Promstuck
by xxShonaNinjaxx
Summary: Your name is Karkat Vantas. John Egbert. Equius Zahhak. Vriska Serket. Gamzee Makara. Nepeta Leijon. Tonight is the night that everyone has spent their whole young lives waiting for. Hearts will break. Punch will be spiked. Ships will sail. Welcome to prom night.
1. all these introductions

**Hi! Welcome to Promstuck. I wrote this several months ago. Yes, it's a rom-com, and yes, it involves shipping. Just as a warning, pretty much all of my ships are disgustingly rare. Seriously. They're so non-canon they're nikon. So if you don't like the ships in this fanfic, please don't make any attempts to sink them. I know the full extent of their unpopularity and accept it wholeheartedly. **

**Thanks for bothering to read my horrible story. Enjoy yourselves, you sad sad little weaboos.**

* * *

Tonight is prom night.

You have no idea what the fuck you were thinking when you agreed to this. You tug at the stupid, stiff jacket of the all-black tuxedo Kanaya managed to force you into wearing. Gog, this thing is uncomfortable. You're still sitting in Dirk's car in the parking lot of the Rosewood Hilton, where the high school had paid to set up this entire clusterfuck. Everyone else is outside. You still wish you hadn't come. If only she hadn't asked...

Your name is Karkat Vantas, and your life, as of tonight, is over.

You honestly don't know what the big idea behind this whole prom thing is. Apparently it's some right of passage in human teenage society or something. Everyone obsesses over one night for the first sixteen-to-eighteen years of their lives, seventeen in your case, then they get all dressed up and go to an expensive-as-hell, four-hour-long party where they make idiots out of themselves, dance, get drunk and, if they're lucky, laid. And frankly, you couldn't give less of a shit about it if you tried. You haven't even been going to your human friends' high school for the whole year. Rose and Kanaya were probably smarter than most of you, since they're not even taking part in all this human bullshit.

The only reason you're here is her.

Suddenly a noise breaks the silence. You jump in your seat. Someone is tapping at the window. You look up and see your idiot best friend standing outside, his dichromatic glasses peering in at you from the darkness. You growl under your breath.

"Fuck off, Captor. I'm not ready yet."

"Still?" He smiles at you like this is some kind of a joke. His lisp makes it sound like more of a "thtill" than anything elthe- you mean else.

"Yes. Now go away. I'll come out eventually."

"Everybody's headed inside. You're gonna miss them."

"Fine," you groan in defeat. Sollux pulls the door open for you. You almost throw yourself out of the car. Might as well get this over with.

Your friend catches you before you hit the ground and helps straighten you back up. "Okay, don't hurt yourself."

You shake him off. "Where are they?"

"Karkat!"

Someone's shouting your name. You know that voice. It's straight ahead.

Jade Harley.

Gog, she looks beautiful tonight. Too bad she's not your date.

"Hey, short stuff. Took you long enough."

And there's Dave Strider, right on cue. He's wearing his midnight crew tux. You have to admit, it goes pretty well with Jade's glittering black dress. You have no idea where she found it. She looks like she's wearing something made of pure galaxy. It's strapless, falling in a smooth cascade to the ground, sparkling strands of silver thread spun into the fabric and reflecting the millions of other colors that surround her. Her fluffy white dog ears stick out from her midnight-black hair, which Kanaya had styled to fall over her shoulders like a dark, silky waterfall...

Okay, now you're blushing. You really need to shut up.

You can't believe you were fantasizing again. Strider and Harley are not splitting up just because you, in some massive lapse of intelligence, fell for her. They've been dating for almost as long as you've known them, which was... screw it. You know you don't have a chance with her. Besides, you're here with someone else. You hear her loud, grating voice long before you see her. "Hi there, Karkles! You finally decided to show up!"

Terezi Pyrope is running toward you, her silky red chinese-style dress trailing around her ankles. Her hair's been pulled back and pinned with gold chopsticks to match the embroidery on her dress. You wonder if she picked the color just to make fun of you.

Gog, you hate her so much. It's one thing to go to prom with your ex, but this is ridiculous.

"Hey,Terezi," you mumble as she leans in for a hug. "Nice dress."

"Thanks. I picked it to match you," she giggles. So it was supposed to be a joke. Nice.

"Well, I'm here. Let's just get this over with, okay?"

Terezi grins and drags you over to the rest of your friends. You link arms, ignoring the angry words shrieking in your head that you wish you could let out and throw at her. Your friends gather around, talking, laughing, everyone humming with excitement. The heavily decorated entrance looms just ahead, sprinkled with tiny stars and model moons and planets to match this year's theme, "across the universe."

Yeah. Seriously.

Real funny, Avalon High School. You're fucking hilarious.

* * *

You've just stepped out of your car and into the cool, damp night air. It seems a little misty out tonight. It would be a bit of a spoiler if it rained on prom night.

You walk around the front of the car, open the passenger-side door and flash your copilot a gappy, broken smile. "Milady," you say jokingly.

Nepeta Leijon extends a ballet-slippered foot out of the open door. Her strapless, autumn-gold-and-green dress flounces around her in endless fluffy layers of shimmery tulle. It's a little shorter than what you would have approved of. But it's what Kanaya had picked. And you do have to admit, she does look pretty. Besides, it's her night. You promised.

"You're so formal," she giggles, fixing her glass-bead flower necklace before pulling herself the rest of the way out of the car. "Come on. Everyone's going in already."

You offer her a hand and she accepts. You see the rest of the crowd across the parking lot by the galaxy-themed entrance to the Rosewood Hilton. To be honest, you hadn't really wanted Nepeta to go to prom, despite how much it was stressed by the human students of Avalon High. You'd heard about the things that happen on prom night. Any sensible moirail would never allow their best friend anywhere near the infinite nameless horrors of human social gatherings. But she had insisted. And besides, everyone else was going. Including...

Speak of the she-devil, there she is right now. She's even lovelier tonight than you have ever seen her before. She looks like an angel, with her gothic white dress edged with tattered lace, tousled waves of raven hair tumbling over her shoulders, her twisted horns shining in the light...

Oh gog, she just turned around. Your palms start to sweat. Nepeta squeezes your hand.

Aradia Megido is staring straight at you. And she's standing with Sollux Captor. You should have known he'd be her date. Not you. Never you.

Your name is Equius Zahhak, and you have basically given up.

Aradia smiles and waves at you. She lets go of her date's hand and starts making her way over to you, the hem of her dress fluttering. "Hi, Equius. You actually came," she says with a slight smile. "And you brought Nep. Really didn't think you had it in you."

"Well... she insisted," you say shyly, trying to ignore the royal blue blush burning your face. Sweat beads on the back of your neck. Gog, why is she so beautiful?

"He said I could have the night to myself," Nepeta chimes in, saving the conversation. "I mean, even the dress was a bit of a stretch. But he's purrfectly okay with it. One night. Right?" She nudges your shoulder. It's your turn to speak.

"Um... Yes. Right," you stammer. "But stay out of trouble, okay? Remember what we agreed."

She nods, smiling. "Mhmm." She squeezes your hand again, then lets go and scampers off. You watch as she disappears into the crowd, letting out a worried sigh. You really hope that nothing goes wrong tonight. You wouldn't want to have to bring her home early or anything else drastic. She knows you only act the way you do because you care about her. She's like what the humans would call your little sister. You only want to protect her, keep her safe...

"Equius? Is something wrong?"

You jolt back into focus and turn back to Aradia. Sollux is making his way through the crowd towards her. Feferi is trailing not far behind. "Um... yes, just... thinking about something..." Oh no. You're sweating again.

You can't do anything but watch blankly as your crush turns away and calls her ex-matesprit over. They'd been broken up for a while now. If only they weren't still so close.

You don't know if they'll ever get back together or not. You only know one thing for sure. She'll never be yours.

Before you know it, you're watching her swaying skirt disappear into the crowd after Sollux and his shot-silk dress shirt. Nepeta materializes out from the crowd. "Equius?" she chirps. "Are you okay?"

You shake yourself out of your trance and pretend to be fixing your tie. "Yes, of course. I'm fine," you say, forcing a smile.

* * *

To be honest, you didn't really think that sky blue would work so well as a tuxedo color. Kanaya really knows how to make things work. It seems a little weird that she put so much time and energy into helping everyone else out to get ready for an event she wasn't even going to. But that's just what she does, you guess.

Tonight is going to be the best night ever. If that isn't true, then you have no idea what is. You've gotten everything right so far, right down to the bow tie. You honestly don't know the first thing about how prom is supposed to work. But it's okay. Most of your friends don't either. Except Dave. He was on the committee, after all.

Dave is the best friend ever. He was the one who had convinced you to go through with this whole prom shenanigan in the first place. If it weren't for him, you probably wouldn't have had the confidence to show up. You want this to be, if anything, one awesome night between two best bros. And you're sure that's what Dave's plan is too.

That is, if you knew where the hell he is.

Of course, he had to bring a date. Jade's been his girlfriend for pretty much ever, so of course he asked her. He's probably somewhere hanging out with her.

You start to poke around in the crowd gathered around the still-closed entry doors. There are so many people here. Sadly, none of them seem to be Dave.

You try to figure out exactly where Dave's gotten himself to. You remember he was part of the prom committee. Maybe there was something wrong with the sound system or lights or something. He'd probably have to run in and fix that before the people start flooding in.

Or maybe he found another door that was unlocked and he's somehow gotten in early.

Then there's Jade to consider, too. Maybe they've run off to Lala Land together or something. Oh, wait, there she is. And... there Dave isn't.

Oh, well. It seems that you can't find him. But that's okay. You're sure he'll turn up.

Sometime.

Eventually.

Goddammit.

Your name is John Egbert, and your best friend, Dave Strider, is being a gigantic asshole.

* * *

You can't believe you let yourself get dragged into this. No, wait. That's a lie. No one dragged you into this whole prom schtick. You were just stupid enough to decide to come here of your own free will.

Alone.

At first, you honestly had no idea what there was to be stressed about. You knew how parties worked. You've gone to them before. The outfit wasn't too big a deal, either. You're sexy enough to pull off pretty much anything. The black satin tux, purple silk shirt, and silky blue scarf you're wearing are more than perfect for the occasion, especially on you. Prom night itself wouldn't be too much different than any other school dance you've been to, either. So there was absolutely nothing you could think of to stress over.

That is, until you actually showed up.

You should have known she's be here. And that he would be here, too. As her date.

You have never hated Feferi Peixes or Sollux Captor more in your entire life.

You are now honestly questioning why the hell you even bothered coming here in the first place. What the hell had possessed you to make you think, "Oh, hey, you knoww wwhat wwould be fun? Comin to the biggest evvent of your entire high school lifetime all by yourself for the sole purpose of embarrassin yourself in front of your ex!"

And not just her. Everyone else, too.

They're_ all_ your exes.

Okay, you might have overreacted just a_ little_ after Feferi ripped your still-beating heart out of your chest and threw it into a ceiling fan. Yes, you were upset, and no, you weren't exactly thinking clearly, but now that you look back on it, having a fling with half the people you knew probably wasn't the best way you could have gotten back at her. In fact, it might have been one of the worst. It didn't do a damned thing to upset her. All you really did was make a huge slut out of yourself. Not to mention the fact that all of your friends hate you now. Jegus, you can be such a dumbass sometimes.

Your name is Eridan Ampora, and this is going to be awkward.

You have no idea where your train of thought was going when you decided to go to this huge hormonal teenager function. First of all, you would be alone. As fuckin' always. Secondly, as of now you have been rejected by nearly everyone you know. Not only that, but the reputation you've built yourself has pretty much obliterated every chance you will ever have of finding a relationship ever again. Third...

You had completely forgotten that princess lowwblood-lovver would be here.

Now you're standing alone in the crowd, watching her from a distance. You take in every detail of her. She's beautiful and just as fucking perfect as ever. She's wearing an aquamarine mermaid dress, following suit with Kanaya's rule that no one was allowed to wear a dress the same color as their blood. Something about leaving behind the old regime and accepting the human ways or some shit. Like that's ever going to happen.

The full skirt of her dress sweeps around her like ocean waves. There's some kind of glittery fuschia detailing around the bodice and towards the top of the skirt. Sequins, you think. Maybe beads. Her long obsidian waves of hair have been pulled delicately away from her pretty face, half up and half down. She's wearing the silver-and-pearl shell necklace that you-

Oh shit, she just noticed you staring.

You try to act casual as she waves and flashes you a white pageant-princess smile. "Eridan!" she giggles, taking a few dainty, high-heeled steps toward you.

What the hell is she so fucking happy about?

"Hey, Fef," you shout back to her, forcing a smile.

She prances over to you and gives you one of her tight, heartfelt hugs that everyone loves her for. Gog, you miss the days when she gave them just for you. "I didn't think you were coming," she says, her cloud of silky black hair pressing against your cheek. It's all you can do not to bury your face in it and inhale its sugary floral scent.

"Why were you thinkin' that?" you respond with the most warmth you can manage. "This is the biggest deal of all the deals that humans can make in their young lives. I would never be missin' out on something this huge."

She pulls back from the hug and smiles. "Admit it. Everyone knew all our fronds would be here tonight. You just wanted to swim along with the rest of the school, didn't you?" She playfully taps your nose. "Didn't want to spend the night by yourself, huh?"

Too late, Fef. Too fucking late. "Well, Rose and Kanaya would have-"

"Hey, FF! Where'd you go?"

Oh gog. You recognize that voice. You should have known that wherever Feferi went, he wouldn't be far behind. How could you have forgotten?

Before you can even finish your sentence, Sollux Captor materializes out of the crowd. You have to admit, he looks almost as stunning as you, dressed in a black tuxedo, white tie and shot-silk shirt to match his bicolor glasses. It almost makes up for the fact that his shoes are mismatched. Your ex-matesprit turns to smile at her date. Your heart is pounding. Heat starts to build up in your chest. You feel a purple blush starting to burn the skin of your cheeks.

Gog you hate him so much.

Then they start chatting. Then Aradia shows up. Then there's more chatting. Before you know it, you've become all but invisible. They're talking about you as if you're not even there anymore. As if you don't even exist. You should have figured just as much.

You've been with and been rejected by everyone you know. You don't know why you even bothered coming here. You knew you'd only be coming alone. And you're pretty sure that you're going to stay that way for the rest of the night.

* * *

It's prom night. It's the night that almost everyone you know has been looking forward to for almost as long as you've been going to this human institution called high school. You have to admit, you've been looking forward to it as well.

But you're not here for the party. You're here for a different reason entirely.

You've come to prom with your lame-ass fairyboy ex, but you don't really care. Even though you broke up over a year ago, he's still good to keep around for things like this. It's not like you could find another date, anyhow. If none of the humans in this awkward little Washington town can't hold your interest long enough to keep up a stable romance of any kind, it's not your fault. You're just too damn amazing for them.

You'd picked your dress well. After what must have been days of searching, you'd finally settled on a red-violet corset gown overlaid with black lace. You'd paired it with a black beaded choker and, much to Kanaya's dismay, at least thirty black rubber bracelets on each wrist. You've gotta say, the corset bodice is hot on you, and the look you've gotten down is edgy as hell. But there's more to this outfit than just looking the part. That huge, billowy skirt of yours isn't just for show. You sweep a hand casually against the layers of fabric covering your thigh. Your hand collides with a small, hard lump with a stifled metallic_ thunk_.

Your flasks are still in place. Perfect. You knew your fishnets could hold them up.

You can't help letting slip a mischievous grin. This plan is just too perfect. The doors will be opening in just a few minutes. No one will notice you walking in. Neither will they notice when you casually stop by the punch bowl, or when you slip a hand through your endless skirts and dump two flasks full of vodka into the mix.

A little inebriation never hurt anybody. Now all you have to do is sit back and watch.

Your name is Vriska Serket, and things are about to get very interesting indeed.

* * *

You have no idea why you're here. You're pretty sure it was only because this was the place all your friends would be tonight. Everyone you knew was going to this whole motherfucking "prom" thing, so you figured, why the hell not? It's not like you had anything better to do. Well, other than spend the night stuck at Rose's house all by yourself. Besides, prom did sound pretty fun. Humans seemed to get pretty motherfucking excited over it. So you showed up. The ticket cost you sixty bucks, too. This had better be motherfucking worth it.

Your name is Gamzee Makara, and you don't even know why you're here.

You showed up here on your own. Well, not exactly. All your friends were going, too. So you guess that means you weren't going alone. But then, you're not really sure if saying that you have thirteen prom dates sounds right. So you just decided to stick it out and, if anyone asks, say that you were going with Tavros. You still want to keep him close. It didn't really matter that you broke up over six months ago. You're still friends. At least you hope so. You don't think you could even imagine living without him. Besides, his date doesn't seem too motherfucking keen on staying with him the whole night.

It didn't take too long to realize that you had no idea how proms were supposed to work. At least you look the part. Kanaya sure did a number on you. She'd picked you out a white shirt, gray vest and pants with an indigo skinny tie to match the satin ribbon of your top hat. Gog, that hat is such a nice touch. Kanaya is a motherfucking genius. It definitely took a genius to get your hair in order. She somehow managed to straighten it into a feathery curtain that swept over your eyes and fell almost to your shoulders. She'd told you to skip the clown makeup at least for tonight. You said that you had no idea what she meant. Then she swiped some eyeliner onto your face, told you that you were done, and shoved you out of the bathroom. You guess she had a point.

You have no idea what had convinced you to show up to prom in the first place. You put Kanaya through all that shit to make you look presentable. You're also sixty dollars closer to being totally motherfucking broke. You know for a fact those tickets don't have refunds.

But you're here now. May as well make the most of it.

* * *

This is probably the most exciting night of your entire life. You have never felt more excited. The excitement has been building up inside your head for days, and now it's all coming out in one big excitement-splosion.

Yeah, you're pretty freaking excited.

You've been looking forward to prom night for the past few weeks. It's been all you could think about for so long. At first, you'd thought that Equius wouldn't let you go. You know that he's always concerned for you and all that other wonderful moirallegiance stuff, but he can be so overprotective sometimes. Then he came to you after school that fateful day and showed you the tickets he'd bought. He asked you to "accompany him" to prom night. You'd nearly had a heart attack and dropped dead from happiness right then and there.

He'd promised you the night afterwards. On prom night, he would set you free. You'd be allowed to do whatever you wanted, and he promised not to get involved or intervene in any way. As long as things didn't get out of hand, that is. But you knew enough to determine which lines were not to be crossed. Both of you knew that.

You've been fluttering around in the crowd for the past ten minutes or so, talking to all of your friends one after another, physically unable to stop talking. You couldn't be more pumped full of energy if you'd slammed ten cans of Monster. You can't wait for those glittering, galactically-decorated doors to open. You just know that the perfect night is waiting just inside. And it's been all you could think about for-

"Nepeta, um, you're repeating yourself," a stuttery voice says.

You blink and shake your head to clear it. Tavros Nitram is standing next to you, his trademark shy, nervous expression twinged with boredom. He tugs nervously at the chocolate brown jacket of his tuxedo and adjusts his tie for the tenth time in the past two minutes that you've been talking to him. Which you'd completely forgotten you were doing. Just got a little sidetracked, you guess.

"Sorry, Tav," you giggle, offering him an apologetic smile. "I just can't help it. I'm-"

"Excited. Yes. You, uh, told me," he stammers. He looks toward his shoes and slides his hands into his pockets. You've never seen him more nervous in your life.

"Hey. You okay, Tavros?" you chirp, lifting his chin to make him look at you. "You're shaking more than a feathery toy at the end of a string."

You feel his face heating up under your fingers. "Yeah, I'm fine, there's, uh, nothing wrong."

"You pawsitive?"

"Yes, I, uh, I'm sure." He takes a step back and you let go of his face. You know for sure that he's not fine at all. You have no idea why. But you're sure he'll get over it.

"Hey, um, shouldn't you be with Equius?" he says unsteadily, continuing to make tiny adjustments to his outfit as he speaks. "He's your date, right?"

"Well, not really. We're just going as meowrails. Were you thinking that maybe-"

"Yes, Tavros, what were you thinking?"

You see your nervous friend's eyes widen as he looks up at someone behind you and stumbles back a step. You spin around to face the stranger.

"Equius!" you purr. You take your moirail's hand and give his strong fingers a squeeze. His palms are sweating again. He must have been talking to a certain someone again. A certain undead, rust-blooded someone.

"I've been looking for you for ages. The doors are going to be opened soon."

"They are?" Your heart starts pounding. Your head is all in a whirl. This is the moment you've been waiting for. "They are?!" you squeal again, excitement practically spilling out of your ears. Your gaze flicks back and forth between the entrance doors and your distressed role-play buddy. You look to Equius, trying to convey a reminder of his promise with your eyes. He looks back down at you and gives a slight nod. You let go of his hand, prance forward, and sweep Tavros up into a warm, reassuring hug. He shivers. Gog, you knew he was nervous, but not that much.

You don't let go until you're sure that Tavros's nerves are under control again. You pull back and smile brightly at him. "You'll be purrfectly fine. Just have fun tonight, okay?"

He smiles shyly back. "O-okay."

Satisfied with your work, you slip your hand back into your moirail's and let him tow you through the crowd to the entrance. The crowd seems to have gotten thicker since you were last here. The doors must be opening soon. You cling tightly to Equius's fingers. You aren't sure if you can take much more of this suspense.

A single noise rises up above the hum of the crowd. There's a click. Your eyes widen and your gaze locks onto the entrance doors. They're slowly starting to swing open.

"Equius! Equius, look!"

You're jumping up and down in place, giggling and squealing, completely unable to contain yourself. You grip Equius's hand in yours and the crowd starts to sweep forward and flows into the hotel ballroom.

For one whole night, you will finally get to be free. And you are determined to do so for all it's worth.

Your name is Nepeta Leijon, and tonight is going to be the best night ever.


	2. Part 1

**Okay, I'm not exactly sure which part it was, but one of these updates makes a reference to another fanfiction that I'd written a while ago and just posted on here a few weeks ago. The title is "Cut," and it's a GamVris one-shot. It ties into the story here somehow, but I'm not going to tell you how or when! (not to be a turd or anything, but I seriously can't remember where it comes into the story) So if you haven't read it, please do. (spoiler alert and trigger warning: images of self harm)**

**That will be all. Feel free to continue reading.**

* * *

Your name is Karkat Vantas.

You're standing alone on the edge of the dance floor. Or at least trying to stand alone. You've been trying to shake off your idiot friends for the past eight minutes. They just don't seem to understand the fact that you had wanted no part in this overemphasized bullshit prom and that they had forced you to come in the first place.

Not to mention that your date has mysteriously fucking disappeared.

The bright, flashing lights that are supposed to look like a supernova or something are making it a little difficult to focus on being depressed. So are the little twinkling lights scattered on the ceiling made to look like stars, the stupid glow-in-the-dark planets hanging from the ceiling, the black-light that's lighting up the white decal stickers plastered all over the walls, and pretty much everything else that's supposed to make this the best night ever. But you're not having the time of your life like all the other fuckasses at this stupid party. Far from it indeed.

You're busy in the middle of your one-man mope session when you hear a noise over the blasting of the music. There's a loud, obnoxious sound rising up above the pounding bass. Or maybe you only hear it so clearly because you've heard it too many times not to.

"HONK!"

Yes, that's him. Your semi-stoned imbecile of a friend is out in the middle of the crowd, fists pumping in the air, head back, that trademark I-just-don't-give-a-fuck smile on his face. He manages to come down from the clouds for just long enough to notice you staring at him and his so-called dancing from across the room. He grins and waves one lanky arm in the air. Oh, how cute. He's trying to communicate.

You ignore him. He waves harder. "Karkat!"

Oh. Looks like he wants you to join him. You begrudgingly push yourself away from the wall and pick your way through the crowd towards him. He reaches past a few people, grabs you by the arm and tugs you the rest of the way through the crowd. You try to show as much indignance on your face as you possibly can as he sticks you in front of himself, that stupid expression still on his face. He's clearly lost the ability to care.

"What are you doing here?" you ask.

He laughs. "What?"

"What are you doing here?" you shout at him over the music. "I thought you weren't coming!"

"Oh!" he yells back. "Music's pretty motherfucking loud! Couldn't hear you, bro!"

You glare at him, still waiting for your answer. "So? Why are you here?"

He shrugs nonchalantly. "No motherfucking idea!"

"You don't have a date, though!"

"Hey, I could only pay for one motherfucking ticket! Does it really matter that much?"

"So... no?"

"I just motherfucking figured I'd be going with all of you guys! I'll just say Tav is my date if anyone motherfucking asks!"

You open your mouth and breathe in to say more, but before you can get even a single word out, he's started dancing again. You give up hope of trying to carry on a worthwhile conversation and start making your way back to your moping post against the wall.

"Hey, where ya going, bro?"

"Nowhere!"

"You seen Jade yet? She looks motherfucking amazing!"

You spin around at the mention on the Jade human. "What? How did you know- I mean, have you- Um, did she-"

"Come to think of it, I haven't motherfucking seen her in a while. You know if she's okay?"

"What?" you shout, not sure how else to respond. Why is he asking you? Your heart starts pounding to the beat of the music. Something must be up. "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you hear? Dave's up and motherfucking disappeared on her!"

Your breath catches in your throat. You can't have possibly heard him right. "What? But that's- He's her date! there is no way that's true!"

You turn away to return to your moping post. But there's someone else standing there now.

And that someone is Jade.

* * *

Your name is Equius Zahhak. Prom has only been running for twenty minutes. Nepeta's already taken off into the crowd. You watch her from one of the table clusters off to the side of the room as she spreads her wings and takes off into the synthetic night sky on the ballroom ceiling. She looks so free out there, dancing like nobody is watching.

You let slip a wistful sigh. Moirails always grow up so fast.

You're honestly not sure why you thought this was a good idea. You know what kind of things happen at prom. If anything happened to your precious Nepeta that even remotely involved spiked punch, rambunctious human boys or so much as the mere mention of date rape, it would be the death of you. But you refuse to regret your decision. Pushing the thoughts aside, you direct your gaze elsewhere in the crowd. You figure that it would probably be safest to just take her home before anything got too serious. The party itself should end around midnight. If things start getting excessively rowdy before then, you-

Your train of thought gets violently derailed. At some point during your gaze-wandering, your unattended eyes had managed to seek out the love of your life so far.

Aradia is standing out in the middle of the dance floor, swaying and shaking in some kind of music-induced trance. You can't stop yourself from staring. Her arms are clawing at the air, her hematite bracelets catching the flashing colors of the pulsating strobelights. Her hips are swaying to the music, her hair swinging around her shoulders and tumbling carelessly down her back. Your eyes lock involuntarily in place. You feel a drop of sweat roll down your forehead. She moves as if she's in a dream. She's beautiful. So beautiful.

You bite your lip as she goes into a spin, her hair and skirt fanning out around her and fluttering in the soft breeze. Then she stumbles. A pair of hands reaches out to catch her, and she crashes into someone's chest, laughing hysterically. That someone is Sollux Captor.

Your trance breaks immediately. You sigh and force yourself to look away. You can't help it. After all the years you've known her, you're still redder for her than Karkat's mutated blood. And something deep in your soul knows that she doesn't feel the same way.

You love her.

You're sure of it.

And you're just as sure that she will never love you back.

* * *

Your name is John Egbert, and you are best friends with the biggest tool that the world has ever seen.

You have been searching for Dave Strider for the entire first twenty minutes of prom. You can't believe this. He had promised to spend the night hanging out with you, having one epic night of awesomeness between two best bros. But now that prom night has finally rolled around, he's nowhere to be seen. He showed up with Jade, said hi, and disappeared. You don't even know where to start with this guy.

After circling the dance floor, the refreshment area, the maze of small circular tables at one end of the ballroom, and even the perimeter of the entire first floor several times, you're starting to give up hope of ever finding him. He's not with Jade, either. You saw her all by herself out on the dance floor just a few minutes earlier. She'd been looking for him as well. It seems neither of you have managed to locate the ever-elusive Strider.

Come on. You've wasted almost the entire first half-hour of prom on a wild fucking goose chase. Face it. You're never going to find this asshole.

Running laps around the first floor of the Hilton has left you feeling a little wilted. Maybe you could use a bit of fresh air. You make your way through the building and find one of the several available exits. You push the door open and step outside.

Only to see your best friend, Dave Strider.

Pressed up against the wall.

Snogging with the blindtastic Terezi Pyrope.

* * *

Your name is Eridan Ampora, and you absolutely refuse to have fun.

You've been sitting at one of the table clusters for the entire first half-hour of prom. Kind of like Equius is, actually. But you're not here to keep an eye on your moirail. Not that you even have one in the first place. It's Sollux Captor who's caught your eye. And of course it's not for that reason. It's only because he's standing so fucking close to your ex. Feferi Peixes, you fishy little slut.

You don't want to dance. You don't want to talk to anyone. You don't want to do anything. You're absolutely fine with watching.

You watch with livid focus as he grabs your princess's hands and pulls her into a dizzy spin. Her skirt flutters out into a full, sweeping wave of aquamarine before she trips over her heels and grabs Sollux for support to keep from hitting the floor. He holds her up until she finds her footing, the both of them laughing with stupid grins on their faces.

Your hands ball up into fists on the plastic tablecloth. Aradia is right next to the two of them and their music-drunk lovefest. You wonder if she's okay with all of this.

You sure as hell wouldn't be.

* * *

Your name is Vriska Serket, and you are soooooooo booooooored.

It seems that no one has taken to the punch quite yet. Or maybe they have, and the intoxication just hasn't kicked in yet. Which sucks. That vodka was the most potent stuff in Roxy's stash that you could possibly get your hands on. Having that drunken floozy around sure does come in handy sometimes.

But seriously. It's been almost an hour at this point. And nothing- NOTHING -has happened.

You're pretty sure that at least a few people must be starting to feel it. That was some good shit you wasted in an effort to make this little stunt work. You genuinely thought-

Hold on. Someone's coming.

You slip into the shadows and watch as a tiny, pixie-like shadow steps out of the flashing strobelights and into the dim glow of the black light by the refreshment area. You can make out a fluffy tulle dress, a pair of sharp, stubby horns, and something flicking back and forth near the shadow's legs that you're pretty sure is a tail.

Sweet wriggler Jegus, it's Nepeta Leijon. You couldn't have asked for an easier target.

You step out of the shadows and stride towards her. Your name is Vriska Serket, and It seems you've found your first victim.

* * *

**OH MY.**


	3. Part 2

You, John Egbert, have just punched your best friend in the face.

All you remember is walking outside and seeing Dave and Terezi making out against the stucco brick wall of the Rosewood Hilton. Now he's staggering backwards, his hands over his face. Your arm is sticking out in front of Terezi, who is screaming her lungs out. Your fingers are sore from colliding with your friend's face. Everything between those two moments is a complete blank for you.

You still can't believe what you just saw.

Dave slips, still dazed from your attack, and collapses onto the pavement. Terezi is still shrieking, her blank, unseeing red eyes staring at you. "John! Stop it! What are you doing?"

She must be able to smell that it's you. Her hands lash out and grab you by the wrist. "What is wrong with you?"

"Me?" you mumble, your eyes flickering back and forth between her and Dave, who's on the ground and struggling to sit up. "What's wrong with me?" you repeat, anger building in your voice. You wrench your arm out of Terezi's grasp. "I think you're asking the wrong person!"

Dave finally manages to push himself upright. Your punch had knocked his shades off of his face. He's holding them in his hand, staring up at you with the bright red eyes that he never lets anyone see. Not even you. "John..." he murmurs. "I-It's not what you think-"

"Oh really?" you snap, stepping away from Terezi to look condescendingly down on him. "So I didn't just walk out here and see you making out with Karkat's ex? While your prom date, who also happens to be your_ actual girlfriend_, is inside, all by herself? Is that what you're saying, Dave?"

"No, wait, you don't understand."

"Oh, I think I understand completely." You turn back to Terezi to shoot her a sharp, disapproving glare. Her face goes teal and she turns shamefully away. You look back at Dave. "Or at least I understand enough. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Dave stares up at you, his blood-red eyes wide and frightened. "John... please... just let me explain..."

"I don't want to hear it!" you roar at him. He cringes at the anger in your voice. "What the hell is wrong with you? What are you doing out here? You have a date. You have a fucking _girlfriend_, Dave. Not to mention a best friend who's been looking forward to tonight for weeks, only to get everything ruined by...by..." You flick your hand around, gesturing at your surroundings. "...whatever this bullshit is!"

Dave sighs and drops his gaze to the ground. He slips his shades back over his eyes and pushes himself to his feet. "Please, John," he begs, looking past his dark glasses into your eyes. "Don't do this. Please. I can explain, if you'd just-"

"No." You hold up a hand. Dave falls silent, his mouth frozen open in mid-sentence. Your eyes are stinging, as though a swarm of tiny bees is trying to escape your tear ducts. "I don't want to hear it. You've done enough for one night."

"J-John, I'm so sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Dave," you say coldly. "Save it for someone who actually cares." Before he can respond, you've already turned around and walked away. You push the door open and head back inside.

You take back everything you said at the beginning of this chapter. Dave Strider is no longer your best friend. Not anymore.

* * *

You, Karkat Vantas, have never been more surprised in your life.

The last time you checked, Jade Harley was one of the happiest, most saccharine-sweet, aggressively nicest people you know. She would never be caught dead sitting alone in a sad little emo corner (let alone yours) moping her life away. Yet there she is, all alone, fluffy white ears lying flat against her perfect hair, with the poutiest expression you have ever seen her make plastered onto her pretty face.

You glance over your shoulder. Your idiot moirail is still out in the crowd, dancing like a possessed stoner and honking his brains out over the music. You turn away and pick your way through the crowd back to your moping post. Jade doesn't even see you.

"Jade?"

Her eyes lift lazily at the sound of her name. She stared blankly up at you for a second, her face still stuck in that depressed pout. "Hey, Karkat," she mumbles. You can barely hear her over the blasting music.

"Are you okay?" you shout at her, not sure what else to say.

"Why do you care?" she shoots back. You bite your lip. Wow, she is really upset.

"Gamzee, uh... he told me about what happened. With Dave."

She sighs so heavily you can almost hear her over the bass shaking the room. "Oh."

"Do you know where he might have gone?" you shout, trying to get her to talk again. "I mean, he's your date. He would have at least told you-"

"Well he didn't," Jade snaps. "He disappeared right after we got here. And I haven't heard from him since." She shuts her mouth and goes back to moping as hard as she possibly can.

That's when John shows up. And the look on his face is an almost exact copy of Jade's.

Of course, you couldn't give less of a shit if you tried. But that's certainly not the case with Jade. The second her hooded green eyes register her paradox brother's heartbroken face in the crowd, her ears perk up and she shouts his name over the music.

"John?"

He turns around and sees the two of you standing up against the wall. At first, he just stands there, a blank expression replacing the sad one. Then the sad one comes back and somehow gets even sadder. You're not even sure how that's possible, but apparently it is.

"John!" Jade shouts again. She reaches out into the cloud of dancers, grabs John by the sleeve and tugs him onto the sidelines with you. "Hey," she says a little more softly. "I haven't seen you in ages. What's going on?"

John bites his lip with his oversized front teeth and looks away. Jade's formerly mopey face takes on a look of concern. She gently squeezes his arm. "John? What's wrong?"

John takes a deep, shaky breath. "I'm so sorry," he murmurs. Then he shakes Jade's hand away, pushes past you and disappears into the crowd.

* * *

Prom has been in session for a whole hour. You are Eridan Ampora, and you still refuse to have a good time.

Up until this point, you have spent the entire prom sitting in the table arrangement (alone), occasionally wandering over to the refreshments (alone), and watching everyone else having the time of their lives while you are stuck here, completely and utterly... do you even have to say it? ALONE.

You have your eyes fixed on three particular students- specifically troll students- in the pulsating crowd, standing out against the backdrop of the normal human students. At least they stand out to you. Especially Feferi. You can't stop watching her. You hate yourself for admitting it, but it's true. You miss her.

You find yourself thinking back to your breakup. It was four months ago, before spring had even thawed out this woodsy little Washington town. You loved her. You had given her everything. And she had given you up for... for...

You feel your throat starting to tighten up. The thought of what Sollux Captor must have been doing with your princess for the past few months makes you want to vomit.

You shake the thought away and continue resentfully watching your sadly-ex-matesprit having the time of her perfect life with Sollux and Aradia. You have to admit, even though you have basically made it your goal to be miserable all night, you still wish that you could be having that much fun. Your thoughts, no matter how hard you try to control them, end up drifting back to Feferi. Gog, you miss her so much. You don't know why she'd wanted to break up with you. She said things had changed between the two of you. You had no idea what she meant by that. You still don't.

You let slip a wistful sigh. The two of you used to be best friends. Even before you'd begun waxing red for her, she'd still been the center of your world. And you had been so sure she had felt the same way about you.

You push your chair away from the table and stand up. You wonder if she still cares about you. There's only one way to find out. You walk away from your table of misery, gather your courage and head towards the dance floor to join them.

The second Feferi sees you standing at the edge of the crowd, a smile spreads across her perfect face. "Eridan!" she squeals.

At the sound of her happy-shrieking, Sollux and Aradia turn to face you. Suddenly you aren't so sure if coming out here was such a good idea. The music seems too loud. The lights are too bright and flashing too fast. You can feel a hot purple blush burning your face. You feel a hand on your arm. A voice is shouting at you over the music.

"Finally decided to join the party, huh, ED?"

It's Sollux. His fingers tighten on your arm as he drags you through the crowd, laughing with a music-drunk smile on his face. The blush on your face grows even hotter. She chose him. Him, of all people, over you. You have no idea what she saw in him. What the hell was she thinking?

But before you can go into another mental rant, Aradia takes your other hand and the three of them pull you into a circle. Bass shakes the room, and you find yourself being swayed to the time of the music, your friends pulling your hands and forcing you to move to the beat. You reluctantly let them. The hands holding yours captive lift towards the ceiling, raising your arms above your head. Then the hands are gone. The music is starting to get to you. The noise in the crowd pushes away the dismal thoughts clouding your head. Before you know it, you're clawing at the air and shaking your shoulders along with the rest of the crowd. You've been dragged down with them.

Your gaze darts around, shifting from each one of your friends to the next. Okay, you have to admit, this is pretty fun. You're actually kind of- dare you say it- _glad_ they dragged you out here.

One second, you're back to back with Feferi, waving your arms and swaying your hips to the music. The next, Aradia's pulled you into some mirror dance that you can't remember learning, but she seems to think you know. She turns away towards Feferi and continues the dance with her. Someone grabs your arms from behind. You look over your shoulder. It's Sollux. You feel a smile tugging at the corners of your mouth. Yes, you are definitely glad they dragged you out on the floor.

You're caught up in the dance, the heat of the crowd, the noise and the music. It's drowning out everything else. You're completely consumed by it. So consumed, in fact, that you almost don't notice Sollux pushing past you, or when he draws close to Feferi. You come down from the clouds as he takes her hands in his. Then they move to her waist. Your trance has all but disappeared. Jealousy bubbles up in the back of your mind.

Everything that had kept you confined to the tables for an hour comes rushing back.

* * *

Your name is Nepeta Leijon, and you are completely burned out.

You had no idea how much energy you could spend on dancing alone. You've been going nonstop since you walked in. You're pretty sure it was all the excitement that got you so worked up. Your prom-rush didn't wear off until a few minutes ago. You figure that you could probably just hang out on the sidelines for a little while, maybe get something to eat, and get back out on the dance floor once you've caught your breath.

You somehow find yourself standing at the refreshment table. You're staring down at a certain object that has been featured at pretty much every prom ever held and has built itself quite the reputation in the meantime. It is, in fact, the very object that your moirail had told you several times to avoid at all costs.

You, Nepeta Leijon, are standing right in front of the punch bowl.

You know that you shouldn't be here. You've been warned about taking drinks from the punch bowl at prom more times than you would have liked. Equius has told you at least thirty separate times about the dangers of drinks served out of open containers. And you said you wouldn't. You promised. Come on. You can't back out on him now.

But you are closer to dying of dehydration than you have ever been in your life. And you don't see anything else out on the refreshment tables. Unless there are coolers under the table where you can't see them. You guess you could take a look...

"Nepetaaaaaaaa!"

Someone's saying your name. You know that voice. You glance over your shoulder. A tall figure in a huge, sweeping dress is traipsing towards you. You see two slender, mismatched horns silhouetted against the flashing rainbow of strobelights.

Vriska Serket has arrived.

* * *

You are Gamzee Makara, and you have spent the last hour in a trance.

You actually have no motherfucking idea how long you've been out on the dance floor. But you guess it's somewhere around an hour. And holy hell, has it been motherfucking fun. You haven't even been paying much attention to what your body was doing. You were too caught up in the music. You're pretty sure that you look like some kind of demonically possessed candy raver at this point. You've been going at it so hard that you can barely even breathe. You guess it's high time you take a motherfucking break.

You give yourself a minute to let your trance ride itself out before slipping out of the crowd and sinking on the floor. You fold your legs into a lotus position and lean back against the wall. Your stoner smile is still plastered onto your face. You laugh quietly to yourself. You guess prom wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Even though Tavros is here.

You were hanging out with him for a good deal of the time you spent dragging each of your friends out on the dance floor one by one. You guess he must not have known what else to do. He'd gone to prom with Vriska, though you have no idea why. They'd been broken up for almost a year and a half, and from what you've heard, she pretty much abandoned him the minute the doors opened. You guess that's what happens when your matesprit breaks up with you because you "bored them."

Then you broke up with him back in November.

Thinking back to that whole disaster makes you shiver. You push the thoughts away and try to forget ever bringing it up. You want to be happy tonight. Not... whatever that was.

You let your thoughts wander for a minute, and your eyes wind up wandering as well. They end up picking out a tall, edgy-looking troll in a corseted dress standing by the refreshment table. Now that you mention it, Vriska has been standing around over there pretty much all night. It makes you wonder exactly what she's doing over there all by herself.

And if she misses Tavros as much as you do now.

You're pretty motherfucking sure that the answer is no.


	4. Part 3

**Hello! So I know I said that this is supposed to be funny, but the few reviews that this story has managed to gather said that it was sad. Well, I guess that means I have more of a talent for triggering the feels than I thought. Whoops.**

**Anyway, I thought that from this point on I'll try to lighten things up as much as I can while editing. Hopefully this story will eventually end up at least half as funny as I had originally intended it to be. Or maybe my sense of humor just sucks. Either way, I hope you still enjoy the rest of my story, whatever your intended purposes for it are.**

* * *

You, Nepeta Leijon, are not entirely sure what is going on.

You have been trying to avoid the punch bowl all night. At least, all night before Vriska showed up. Now you're standing alone by the refreshment table with the spiderbitch staring at you from across the room, a malicious, fanged grin on her face. You pretend you don't see her and walk casually away. You were never here. You didn't see anything. None of this ever happened... Then she says your name again.

"Heeeeeeeey Nepetaaaaaaaa!"

You fix your eyes on the next table over and keep walking. You can't turn around. There's no telling what she might do if you-

"Hey, you could at least look at me when I'm talking to you!"

No. No no no no no no no no no no-

You feel your limbs starting to freeze up. Your steady pace starts to slow down, and your feet drag to a stop. You risk a glance over your shoulder. Vriska has one hand raised, her fingers pressed to her forehead. You can't see it in this light, but you know that her pupils are dilated, a faint cobalt glow in her eyes. You should have known she'd use her powers on you if you tried to say no. You feel so stupid.

Your body turns itself around and you start walking back to the punch bowl without your consent. You shudder to a stop in front of Vriska. "Hi, V-Vriskers," you stutter.

"Aww, isn't that cute," she says mockingly. "Looks like the little kitty's lost her owner. You having fun all on your own?" She leans in menacingly. You shudder. "You don't have anyone to keep you safe now. But that's what you wanted." She bares her fangs. "Isn't it?"

"W-what do mew mean?" you squeak. Your heart starts pounding. You wish you could run away. But you know it wouldn't work, no matter how hard you try, she'd only drag you back...

Vriska straightens up and laughs. You stare up at her, confused. What is she-

"Okay, okay, don't lose your shit," she snickers, playfully punching your shoulder. "I was just screwing with you. What were you thinking?"

"O-oh," you respond, forcing a small giggle. "Um, nothing I guess. What are mew doing over here?"

"Oh, not much," Vriska says, her face taking on a blank, bored look. "Just hanging, I guess. What about you?"

"Well, I've been dancing for purretty much the entire night so far. I thought I should purrobably take a break. It's actually furry tiring when you're out there for so long."

"Really? Fascinating," she deadpans, not sounding fascinated at all. "So. You're getting a drink, aren't you?" She nods casually at the punch bowl.

"Oh, um, I-" you stutter, scrambling for an answer. "I- Not really, I was just-"

Vriska rolls her eyes and sighs bitterly. "Equius told you not to, didn't he?"

You blush and drop your gaze to the floor. "He- He has a good reason. He wouldn't stop telling me about all the things that happen at prom. Especially all the things that people put in the punch. I- I was thinking about it, but I would nefur-"

"Well he was wrong."

You look up, surprised. "What?"

"Equius was wrong. There's nothing in the punch."

You tilt your head in suspicion. "How could you pawsibly-"

"I was drinking it earlier," she says, nodding toward the punch again. "And look at me now. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with it. He's just trying to scare you."

You look toward the oversize bowl of pale red liquid. There's a faint fruity smell coming off of it. And you are still desperate for something to drink. You just want some so bad...

"Yes. Yes you do," you faintly hear Vriska saying. Oh gog. Either she can hear what you're thinking, or-

You feel your hand reaching for one of the clear plastic cups next to the bowl all on its own. You try to pull it back, but it won't change its course. You watch helplessly as your fingers wrap around the plastic and pull it free from the stack. Your other hand reaches toward the crystal-cut ladle hung up on the rim of the bowl.

You feel the tenseness in your muscles starting to loosen up. Your fingers wrap around the ladle's handle. Vriska lets go, and so do you. The huge glass ladle falls back into the punch bowl, and you slam the plastic cup in your hand back down onto the table.

Your eyes flicker up to stare indignantly at her face. "Vriskers!"

She snorts and rolls her eyes again. "Come on. I already told you, I'm just screwing around. Do you think I would bother wasting my powers on something this stupid?" She leans casually against the table. "I'm just wondering why you're being such a little pussy."

Your tail flicks angrily. "What did mew just call me?" you squeal.

"Oh come on, pussycat," she says, tapping her nails against the table. "This is your night. That's what Equius promised you, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"But nothing. This is stupid. Why should it matter what he told you?"

You bite your lip as your eyes flicker involuntarily back to the punch bowl. As much as it scares you to admit it, she's right. Equius had told you that for one whole night, you would be allowed to do whatever you wanted. And it's just punch. It's really no big deal. Or at least it shouldn't be.

Screw it. This is your night. It doesn't matter what Equius thinks.

Without another thought, you pour yourself a cup of punch and take a sip.

* * *

You are Eridan Ampora, and you are getting pretty fuckin' sick of watching Sollux play around with your ex.

You had feelings for her. You were redder for her than a prince in a fairytale. If it had been up to you, you would have never broken up. You were IN LOVE with her, gogdammit!

You stop dancing and stare resentfully at the two of them. They're so fucking oblivious. Good. They should be. You are done with them. You turn away and slink through the crowd until you've left the dance floor. Then you stomp toward the refreshment table. You know for a fact that someone at this prom has spiked the punch. That's what always happens. You never once thought that you would be grateful for it.

You grab yourself a cup, fill it, and toss back the entire thing in a matter of seconds. You shudder, slam another, and are in the middle of choking down a third when you hear three irritatingly familiar voices slowly drawing closer.

"Hey! Where did you think you were going?"

"What, were we not invited or something?"

"Eri! Save some for the rest of us!"

You turn around. Aradia, Sollux and Feferi are making their way toward you, all sunshine and smiles. You grit your teeth and growl under your breath. Walking away from them was not a fucking invitation.

"What. Do. You. Want."

Feferi is the first to make it over. "We were all dancing, and then you just fishappeared. At first we didn't know where to look, but then Aradia saw you swimming your way over here..." She looks down at the cup in your hand and giggles. "Thirsty, aren't you?"

You roll your eyes and turn away just as Aradia shows up, Sollux following closely behind. "Hi, Eri," Aradia says. "You thought you could get away from us, huh?"

Sollux materializes behind her. "Yeah. Come on, ED. This is prom night. You've been sitting by yourself the entire time."

Heat flares in your chest. You tighten your fingers around the cup in your hand. "Really? I didn't notice."

Sollux looks at you, confused. "Hey. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know." You look up from the table and glare at him, channeling hate into every aspect of your facial expression. "Why don't you tell me?"

"ED, what is this about?" Sollux asks. Feferi is standing behind him, one hand on his shoulder. You try to ignore the worry in her expression.

"What is this about?" you murmur, your voice dripping with venom. "What is this about?! Why don't you ask Fef? After all, I was her matesprit for MORE THAN A WHOLE FUCKIN' YEAR, so I'm sure she knows everything about me! In fact, I'm surprised she hasn't told you already, since she's been with you the entire night!"

Feferi's mouth drops open, her pretty grey eyes wide with surprise. "Eridan!"

"I don't know what she sees in you, Captor," you snarl, ignoring your ex's protests. "I know I'm not perfect, but neither are you! Yeah, Fef broke up with me. Why? I don't fuckin' know! And now you think you can just walk into her life and sweep her off her feet like some knight in shining fuckin' armor?"

Sollux stares at you past his glasses, his mouth open in disgusted shock. "ED, I don't know what your problem is, but-"

"Oh, you don't?" you shout, slamming your punch cup down on the tabletop. "Because don't look now, but I'm pretty sure she's standin' right behind you!"

They're all staring at you now. If it weren't for the blasting music and the shouts from the dance floor crowd, the room would be totally silent. Your eyes shift furiously from one troll to the next. Anger burns white-hot in your chest. You grab your half-full cup of punch and storm off. You disappear into the shadowy side of the room, slam whatever's left in your cup, and wait for them to leave. Eventually they do.

Once the punch bowl has been deserted, you go back and get yourself another round of spiked punch. You are determined to get wasted if it kills you.

* * *

You are Karkat Vantas.

You've pretty much given up on trying to get in with the dance floor crowd. They are just too fucking happy. It's kind of disturbing, actually. You're pretty sure most of them are high. That would explain why your moirail has been there the entire night. You're too pissed off to enjoy yourself, anyway. So, here you are, back to leaning against the wall and being the ever-distressed emo teenager you truly are.

That's when John shows up.

You almost didn't notice him when he first appeared. He's never this quiet. Something must have him really upset. You wonder if it's the same thing as before.

John takes up the empty wall space next to you and drops his head forward, staring at the floor in perfect mope formation. He looks just as moody as you, if not even more.

You lift your eyes from the floor to look over at him. "Hey, John."

"Nn," he mumbles in response.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

John doesn't say a word, only keeps staring at the floor like a vegetable. For some reason, you involuntarily start giving a shit. You have honsetly never seen him like this in the all of the four years you've known the fuckwad. You try again. "John, seriously. What's wrong?"

He picks his head up and whips his gaze toward you. Jegus. If looks could kill, you'd probably be on the floor with the paramedics checking your pulse. You didn't even know it was possible for John to make a face like that.

"DAVE." He spits out the hipster's name like it's some kind of bitter-tasting poison.

"Oh." You shut your mouth and look back to the floor. John does the same.

"So..." you mumble, not sure what else to do. Moping has started to get kind of boring. You figure you may as well strike up a conversation.

"So... have you seen Jade?"

"Yeah," you say flatly. Your face heats up at the mention of her. "Last I saw, Gamzee had dragged your out to the dance floor. She's completely forgotten about Dave. She's probably out in the crowd having a fucking party without us."

"She should be. She shouldn't need Dave to be happy."

You aren't entirely sure what he's talking about, but you agree with him anyway. You start to think back to your breakup with Terezi. She wouldn't tell you why she wanted to end it. But you had a pretty good idea of what her reasons were, no matter what she told you. You still aren't sure if Dave felt the same way about her as she did about him. You sure as hell hope not. You would never let Dave break her heart like that if you could help it.

"Hey, Karkat?" John's voice distracts you from your sad little train of thought.

"What?"

"You used to date Terezi, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Do you still have feelings for her?" he asks bluntly.

"No," you snarl quietly. A bitter, cold feeling crawls down your spine. "No, I don't. I fucking hate that bitch."

You look over at John. He's staring at the floor again. He nods a second later. "Good."

You watch in blank confusion as he pushes off from the wall and walks away. Well. That cleared up jack shit.

Fine. He can be mysterious if he forget about John and go back to brooding.

* * *

You are now Equius Zahhak.

You're still wandering around the first floor of the hotel by yourself. You don't mind, really. It's not like there's much else to do. You've stuck to the ballroom for most of the time to keep an eye on Nepeta. Well, at least that was the intended purpose. Now that you're thinking about it, you realize that haven't seen your moirail in quite some time. You have to wonder exactly what she's gotten up to. You hope she hasn't run into trouble while your back was turned.

While you were wandering, you somehow wound up standing by the refreshments. You notice three horned silhouettes standing by the punch bowl. Upon closer inspection, you find that they are Sollux, Feferi and Aradia. You wonder what they're doing over here. Moreover, you wonder if they are actually considering drinking that cheap, mass-produced swill being served out of a bowl. The very idea disgusts you. They do know how easily someone could have put something in that poison, right?

You shrug the thought away and begin to walk in their direction. Aradia looks away from her friends for just a second. Suddenly, her eyes are fixed on you. You ignore the feeling of sweat building up under your navy-blue jacket and keep walking. The others notice Aradia staring off into the distance and turn to look at you.

"Hey, EQ," Sollux says with a casual wave. "What've you been up to all night?"

"Not much," you say, trying to avert your gaze from Aradia. "Have any of you seen Nepeta?"

"Nepeta?" you hear Aradia ask. You force yourself to look in her direction, a warm, fuzzy feeling burning in your chest. "I thought she was your date."

"Well, she is, but she'd wanted to be on her own for a while. I'd been trying to keep an eye on her from the tables, but..." You shrug, trying to act as if sweat isn't rolling down the back of your neck. "I haven't seen her in ages."

"Oh," Feferi says quietly. She taps her pearly pink nails on the tabletop. "I'm sorry. We haven't seen her since we came in."

You nod silently. "Oh. Well... that's quite alright. I understand. I'll keep looking for her."

You watch as they turn away and start back towards the dance floor. First Sollux, then Feferi, then- wait a second. Aradia still hasn't left.

She's looking at you, something that looks like friendly pity in her eyes. She takes a step towards you and places a soft, cool hand over yours. You hope that the flashing colors of the strobelights hide the royal blue blush burning your face.

"She's gotta be somewhere around here," she says with a faint smile. "She can't have gone too far. I'm sure you'll find her soon."

You give Aradia a shy smile in return. "I'll do my best."

Her smile brightens and she gives your hand a soft squeeze before turning away to join her friends out on the dance floor. You stand motionless and watch as your crush disappears into the crowd. You wish that you could follow her. Prom isn't nearly as fun when you spend the entire night alone. But for some reason, you can't.

* * *

You are Gamzee Makara, and you are once again back out on the dance floor.

You've been spending nearly the entire night so far out here. All you really want to do at this party is get into the music and let your inner dance demons take over. Now that you think about it, that's all there really is to do at prom. Well, other than get drunk, make out with your date, and start fights. Those options don't sound all that bad, either.

You reach the edge of the crowd. The blasting bass and lilting melody of the music start twisting their way through your head. You let the music take over and start moving, letting the crowd pull you in and assimilate you into the rave. For a while, you're doing what you've been doing from the moment you walked in, letting the music move you. Then you hear the cheering.

Your head snaps upright and you open your eyes. What the hell is going on?

You pick your way through the mass of dancing students, making your way towards the source of the noise. Seems like everybody's all crowded around some spectacular spectacle in the middle of the floor. You finally push through the crowd to see what all this motherfucking commotion is about. That's when you see something that you never would have even imagined that you would live to witness.

Nepeta is dancing in the middle of the crowd. She's surrounded by boys, and even a few girls have gotten themselves caught up in the commotion. They're all over her, watching her dance, cheering her on like she's a born performer. And holy hell, is she cutting loose.


	5. Part 4

**Thanks for all the positive reviews so far! Yes, all three of them.**

**Have fun reading the next part of my crappy fanfiction. Whatever your predicitons for the ships this will end in are, they are probably wrong. However, since I'm not a mindreader and can't very well communicate through a screen, I can't be sure. Anyhow, I'm going to be a little slow getting the entire fanfic posted. However, with my first few, I was updating almost weekly and by the time the entire fanfic was up, no one had read it. I'm going to be a little slower with this one. Just wanted to let you know.**

**Please continue.**

* * *

You are John Egbert, and as of now you don't have a best friend anymore.

You're wandering around in the crowd, just like you have been for the past twenty minutes. The crowd all around you is pulsing with energy and the music is deafening, but you don't feel like dancing. All you can do is think about Dave.

You don't know why you're still stuck on this issue. Jade seems to have gotten over him quickly enough. But for some reason you can't get him out of your head. You haven't seen him since Terezi. You still can't believe what you caught him doing. He doesn't need her. He has Jade. She should be more than enough. You know she loves him. She gave everything that she could to keep their relationship going. She's perfect for him in every way you could possibly imagine. And he still decided to give her up for Terezi.

Which is ironic, because that is exactly who comes running through the crowd towards you.

"John! Hey, John!"

You lift your head up from its lowered moping position and turn to look in her direction. What is she doing here?

"Terezi?"

"John! Thank gog I found you," she shouts over the music. She's panting as if she just ran a marathon. "I've been searching... all over... and... and I..."

"Searching? For me?"

She looks up at you and shakes her head. "No. Not you. Dave." She straightens up, her breathing finally back under control. "I can't find him anywhere."

You feel as if you've just been slapped. You feel your mouth drop open and your face freeze up in shock. She literally just had her tongue in his mouth an hour ago. And now she doesn't even know where he is?

"Wait...What?"

"Didn't you hear me?" she shouts, exasperated. "I think Dave might have gone missing!"

You cross your arms over your chest. "Yeah, so? I thought you were the master detective. Why don't you find him yourself?"

"I've tried, John!" She's practically screaming at you now. "Believe me, I've tried. But I can't find him. The last I smelled him, I'd picked him up off the ground when we were outside. After that, he just apologized to me for some reason and he... He said he couldn't do this anymore. Then he... Then Dave just left. I've been searching for him for... I don't even know. But I just can't reach him. I've tried everything, John. But not even my powers are working on him. I can't even follow his brain waves. Either he's blocking me out, or he's... he's just... gone!"

You can't do anything but stare silently at Terezi. You've been struck speechless. First you wanted Dave gone from your life. Now... he actually is?

Terezi takes your silence as an invitation and keeps talking. "I thought maybe he was going back to Jade, but as far as I've heard, she hasn't seen him, either. I'm really worried about him, John. I know that I've screwed a lot of things up tonight, but please-"

"Dave's gone?" you blurt out.

Terezi narrows her blank red eyes at you. "Were you listening to ANYTHING I just said?"

You don't answer her. You turn away and run your hands through your hair. You start chewing worriedly at your lip. This can not be happening. You can't believe this. Dave can't have just disappeared. He has to be somewhere around here. He wouldn't just...

You, John Egbert, are starting to seriously worry about Dave. Even though you punched him.

* * *

You, Karkat Vantas, have spent the last fifteen minutes of your life moping against the wall.

You don't even know why you're trying to keep this up. To be honest, it's getting pretty boring. There is literally next to nothing going on to maintain your interest. Eventually you come to the conclusion that leaning up against the wall with your head down is starting to sound pretty fucking pointless. You straighten up and push your way through the writhing dance floor crowd to the ballroom doors. Maybe taking a walk will be a little less dull.

You push the doors open and step out into the hallway. It seems dead-silent out here compared to the eardrum-shattering noise in the ballroom. Your ears feel blocked up, like you've just changed altitudes. You let the door swing closed behind you and stuff your hands into your pockets. You wonder what else there is to see at this place, other than that overheated ballroom with the nebula lights and tacky little fucking papier-mache planets.

You've barely even made it to the lobby when you hear your name being called.

"Karkat?"

You raise your head, ears pricked. You whirl around towards the sound. "What the fuck-"

Suddenly, Dave.

He's standing there in the hallway, not even ten feet behind you. Not only that, but he's taken his glasses off, too. So he finally decided to show those eyes of his that Terezi loves so fucking much.

Your hands clench into fists at your sides. "Oh. So the ever-elusive Strider has finally decided to make his spectacular fucking appearance!"

Dave Strider takes a step toward you, hands held up in front of him in surrender. "Hey. Calm down, Karkat. Before you say anything, just let me explain-"

"Like hell I will!" you snarl at him, fingernails digging into your palms. "Everyone is worried shitless about you in there! Where the hell have you been all night?"

"Karkat, please," Dave pleads, desperation clouding his normally over-fucking-confident face. "I need to find Jade. Do you know where she is?"

Your eyes widen. "What?"

"I'm looking for Jade. I- I've been thinking for a while, and- look, I just really need to talk to her. I need you to help me out here."

So now that Strider finally decided to show his face, all he wants to make up with his matesprit. Well. You're almost surprised. But you can't say you didn't expect that from him. You know exactly what he's been doing. And he knows it, too.

When Terezi broke up with you, it didn't take long for you to figure out exactly what had been going on. She thought she could slide it past you. You still wonder what kind of fucking moron she took you for. You saw the way they would act around each other. You saw it every fucking day of your life. Then you saw him acting the exact same way with Jade. The exact same way. And every fucking time it made you want to disappear, curl up in a corner and die.

You had wanted to tell her. You wanted to tell her so fucking badly. But you knew you could never break her heart like that. Dave knew it, too. So you'd kept your mouth shut.

But this... This was just taking it too fucking far.

Dave is still staring at you with that stupid pitiful expression on his face. "Come on. Help me out here, Karkat. Please."

You bare your teeth and growl under your breath. "Fuck no."

Without another thought, you lunge forward and grab Dave by the arm. He tries to pull his arm out of your grip and plants his feet firmly on the floor. "Karkat! What the-"

"Shut up, Strider! You have a whole fucking mess of explaining to do!" You tighten your fingers on Dave's sleeve and give him a sharp tug.

He doesn't move.

You sigh heavily and snarl under your breath. Why the fuck were you born to be so fucking short?

You pull on his arm again. You dig your shoes into the carpet, trying to use every law of physics in your favor to get him to move. Dave still isn't going anywhere. But you won't be giving up so easy. You keep on pulling. Eventually you realize that it isn't working, so you get behind him and try to push instead. Still nothing. Dave looks like he's on the verge of breaking down into a fit of laughter. Gog, you are just making a fucking fool of yourself.

"Um... Karkat... I guess I could just find Jade on my own, then..." You can hear the suppressed laughter in his voice. He ignores your furious efforts to drag him back to the ballroom and starts to walk in the opposite direction.

"Oh no you fucking don't!" you growl. You dart in front of him and kick him in the shin. You can't believe you didn't think of this before you wasted your time trying to drag him.

Dave lets out a yelp and staggers forward. You waste no time in stepping forward, grabbing both of his arms, and forcing him to turn around. "Karkat, what are you-"

"Just shut the fuck up and walk." You kick sharply at his heels, forcing him to keep walking. You don't stop until you've dragged him back into the ballroom and out onto the dance floor. Prom night is about to get much more interesting. It is for you, at least.

You, Karkat Vantas, are going to make Dave Strider pay.

* * *

You are Equius Zahhak, and have suddenly become that much more depressed.

Why? Well, first there's the fact that your moirail just gave you the slip when you should have been watching her. Then there's the occurrence from a few minutes ago when Aradia touched you. TOUCHED you. Just thinking about it makes you start to sweat. But both of those reasons seem pretty minor now. Because now, you're standing out in the middle of the dance floor. And, conveniently, a slow song has just started to play.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY! EEEEEEQUIUUUUUUUUS!"

Someone is screaming your name over the triggering love song that fills the ballroom. Your head turns in every direction possible trying to find the source. A shadow stumbles drunkenly out of the crowd and crashes into your shoulder, then looks up at you with a double-fanged grin. It's Sollux.

"Sollux, what are you-" You hear slurred giggling rise up somewhere out in the crowd. Two more silhouettes are pushing through the crowd towards you, one tottering significantly more than the other. As they draw closer, you see that one of them is Feferi. She has a giddy smile on her face and is leaning heavily on a still-relatively-sober-looking Aradia. You fall silent mid-sentence.

Sollux hangs onto your sleeve and unsteadily regains his footing. "Hey, ponyboy," he laughs, the drunken grin never leaving his face. "What're you doing out here all by yourself?"

"Um, Sollux, I don't-"

"Awww, it's okay, Equi!" Feferi prances out from under Aradia's arm and takes yours instead. "You don't have to be alone all night. Come on. You can dance with us!"

Before you can cough up a reasonable answer, Sollux has grabbed Aradia, who joins hands with Feferi, who is still leaning on you. You've been assimilated into their drunk little friendship circle, and it doesn't look like you're going to be getting out anytime soon.

The circle starts swaying unromantically to the music. Everyone around you is smiling and laughing. Gog, this is so foolish. But you can't help it. It's infectious. Soon the feelings from earlier are gone, and you've starting smiling as well.

That is, until the circle splits up.

You aren't even paying attention. You never notice Sollux taking his arm away from your shoulder, or when Feferi unwinds her arm from yours. Before you know it, they've left the circle and are off in the crowd slow-dancing somewhere else. That leaves-

Someone has taken your hands. You feel the dancer swaying slowly to the music. They're standing right in front of you. You already know who it is, but you wouldn't dare...

"Hey. What's wrong?"

Oh dear. It's Aradia.

"What's- oh, um... n-nothing."

"Not much of a dancer?"

"Well, not especially, but-"

Her dreamy smile cuts you off. She lets her eyes drift closed and starts swaying to the slow, steady rhythm of the music. You find yourself being swept along as well, letting her lead you in some kind of awkward middle-school slow dance. Your gaze is fixed on her. You can't look away. She's so beautiful, and here she is, her hands entwined with yours. She sways like a wildflower in the wind, her flyaway black hair fluttering with her soft, delicate movements. It's almost as if she's yours. She haunts you more than ever now.

You're sweating again. Dear gog, this is so embarrassing. You hope that she can't tell. Your heart is pounding so hard that you can feel your pulse at your fingertips. Still, Aradia only smiles and keeps dancing. You want to say something. Tell her you want to be like this forever. That you can't let her go. Say that you... you...

Then the song ends. Sollux and Feferi magically reappear. Aradia lets go of your hands and lets them tug her away from you and back into the crowd. You feel your heart starting to slow down again. You want to follow her. But you-

Hold on. There's a noise in the crowd. It sounds almost like...cheering.

You turn towards the sound. There must be something going on out in the middle of the dance floor. A huge part of the crowd is gathered around one spot, all screaming and shouting for some huge show being put on at the center of the ring of noise.

You wander closer. You're curious as to what all this commotion is about. A few people in the crowd see you approaching. Everyone who notices you falls silent. Your confusion worsens, and you pick your way toward the front of the crowd. Whatever is going on, it must be-

Oh. So that's where Nepeta's been this whole time.

* * *

Your name is Eridan Ampora.

You've been standing by the refreshment table, tossing back cup after cup of punch and staring angrily at the dance floor for what seems like forever.

You don't know what you were thinking when you walked out onto the dance floor. You should have known that it would all go wrong. Things always go wrong for you.

You can't stop thinking about Sollux. Wait, no. Not like that. Obviously not like that. You're not Equius, for gog's sake. And his is sure as hell no Aradia. You weren't crushing on him for years. That was how you felt about Fef, if anything. Then he ripped her brutally away from you without so much as a whisper of warning.

The fuckin' traitor.

It isn't until Vriska forces you to turn around that you notice her standing behind you.

Your muscles tense up and suddenly you've spun around without your consent. You find yourself staring up into the cold cerulean eyes of the empath troll. Oh, gog. What does the spiderbitch want from you? You honestly don't see how this night could get much worse.

"Hey there, fishcake. Enjoying the party?"

You scoff in her face. "No."

She releases you, and you fold your arms across your chest and lean back against the table, pouting. She leans in next to you. "What's up with you? Got some kind of problem with the decoration choice or something?"

You look away and refuse to answer. She forces you to turn to face her again. "Come on. Spit it out before I force you to. What's wrong, toolbox?"

"Everyfin. That's what's so fuckin' wrong," you snap before turning away from her again.

"Oh. I see how it is," she mumbles behind your back. "I was wondering what you were doing so far from the party."

You turn back to her, your cheeks burning violet. "What party? All I see is a hatefest!"

"Whoa, calm down," she says, her hands held defensively up. "Jegus. Who pissed in your fish flakes this morning?"

"Well, that's pretty much the fuckin' equivalent of what Sol-" You abruptly shut your mouth. If Vriska finds out about this there's no telling what she'll do.

But it's too late. You've already said just enough for her to catch on.

A smug, sly smile spreads across her face like ice on a pond. "So that's what this is about," she says, a touch of laughter in her voice.

Not. Good.

"No, wait, Vris, I know what you're thinkin'-" you stutter. But you know it's already too late. You've already spelled disaster for yourself. There's no stopping her now.

"So what did Sollux do that's gotten you so twisted up?" she says innocently. Gog, you hate the sound of her voice when she does that.

"Well- I-He- Oh, fuck it! What didn't he do?" you spit in her face, abandoning any effort to hide your feelings. "It's just... I see him with her... all the time... and she..."

"She? You mean Feferi, right? Just want to make sure we're on the same page, because as far as I've heard, you broke up four months ago, and- hold on to your socks, people, this is a huge twist- NO ONE CARES ANYMORE."

Well. Way to be blunt, Vriska.

"You know what?" you snarl, your hands tightening until your nails bite into your palms. "I don't need your fuckin' mockery! If you came here just to make fun of my problems, then you can walk away right this second, because I don't want to hear any of your bullshit. Prom sucks badly enough as it is, and I don't need you to remind me why! I do that enough myself!" You turn away from her again, grab your cup of punch and start to trudge back to the tables. You don't need this.

"Hey, Eridan!" Vriska shouts after you. "Where do you think you're going?"

You don't answer. She's done enough. You don't need to hear any more. You know that if you turn back, all she's going to do is make fun of you, and you- Okay, now she's forcing you to stop walking. You hear her heels clicking on the floor, drawing steadily closer.

Well. Looks like you don't have a choice now.

You turn around, channeling enough rage into your eyes to burn a hole in Vriska's dark, unfeeling soul. She looks impassively back at you, taking in the clear plastic punch cup clutched tightly in your hand. "How many of those have you had?" she asks coolly.

Your gaze flickers between her and the cup. What the hell does she expect you to say? "I- It's been- FUCK, do you actually expect me to remember this shit?"

You almost miss the quick, furtive smile that flickers briefly on her face. "About Sollux..."

"What about Sollux?"

"Well, you keep saying that he's the reason why you're so upset, and I was just thinking..."

"Thinkin' what?"

"Wellllllll... What have you done to get him back?"

You can't believe what you're hearing. Actually, that's a lie. Coming from her, it's not all that surprising. "What are you sayin'?"

"Okay, you are clearly not getting it, so I'll spell it out for you," Vriska says, fixing her hands on your shoulders. "You were pissed off at Fef first. So you... well, I wouldn't say you made her pay, but-"

"Okay, okay, yes, we all remember what happened!" you shriek, unwilling to hear any more. Jegus. if you'd known this would happen three months later, you never would have made Vriska one of your... um... exes. Wow, you could be really stupid sometimes. "Get on with it. What's your point?"

"What I'm saying is, you've already played your game with Feferi. So if Sollux is the one who you're mad at now, then... why not find yourself a new target?"

The blush on your face intensifies. Your heart starts to flutter. What the hell is she thinking? "Vris, I don't know what you're playin' at, but I am NOT-"

"No, not like that!" she snaps, shaking you. "You know what I mean. Sollux is pissing you off, and you're acting like a pouty little bitch instead of facing him. He's never going to take you seriously if you keep this up."

Your heart slows down and the violet starts to fade from your cheeks. "Well, what do you expect me to do?"

She flashes you a sly but encouraging smile. "I want you to get your shit together, get out on that dance floor, and show that lisp-faced nerd what you're made of."

You nod obediently, a faint mischievous smile on your face. You know exactly what she means. And you've already got a plan in mind. Or maybe she had one and decided to let you in on it. You aren't really sure at this point.

Vriska lets you go, and you turn away from her and start towards the dance floor, dropping your punch cup in the trash on your way there. You've had enough of that shit to last you a lifetime. It's time to get serious.

You stride casually out on the dance floor and push your way through the crowd until you find them. They're still in the same place you saw them last. Still dancing like half-drunk idiots. Your heart burns with bitterness when you see Sollux dancing hand-in-hand with your ex. At least he won't notice when you grab his.

Moving to the beat of the music blasting through the room, you sneak up beside Aradia. She never sees you until you're close enough to brush her shoulder with yours. She looks towards you, her stormy eyes wide. "Eridan? When did you decide to come back out here?"

"Not long ago," you say casually, throwing a quick glance in Sol's direction. Just wait a few more seconds. Wait until he's facing you. "Would you do me a favor, Aradia?"

She awkwardly brushes a strand of hair out of her face. "Sure, I guess. What is it?"

Sollux turns around. He's looking straight at you. This is it.

"Hold still for a second."

Aradia opens her mouth to protest. Before she can speak, you throw an arm around her waist, pull her close and kiss her.

Right in front of Sollux.

* * *

**Eridan what have you done.**


	6. Part 5

**I FOUND THE PROBLEM CHAPTER! Minor trigger warning. This chapter is the one that I'd mentioned before that makes a reference to another of my homestuck fanfictions. The title is Cut, if you're interested in reading. Mind you, there is a much larger trigger warning on that one than there is on this chapter. So if you're interested in hearing a little more about Gamzee and his personal problems, feel free to go read it. That's all I had to say here. I should shut up and let you read now.**

* * *

Your name is Gamzee Makara, and you have just been held witness to a lot of shit. You can't really be sure exactly what the mother of fuck is going on. There has been too much happening at the same motherfucking time to pay all that much attention to anything in particular. But even if you don't understand it entirely, you're still pretty entertained. Wandering around the dance floor and catching bits and pieces of the promtime happenings has its benefits.

But to be honest, you never thought any of your friends could be this motherfucking stupid.

You have no idea what the hell was going on with Eridan. As far as you knew, he was still getting over Feferi, and he hadn't shown any signs of going blush for Aradia. And you could detect that shit from a million light years away. Nepeta was pretty much an open book for you. You personally think that slutty dancing and a little time in the shameful spotlight isn't the worst thing that could have happened on her first night out. Karkat is... you don't even know anymore. That motherfucker is just always angry about something. First it's because Jade is with Dave, then it's because Dave isn't with Jade, then because of something John said that didn't make any sense, and fuck that you don't even know at this point. And John? Hell. He hasn't opened up to anyone all night. You're still trying to figure out what his major motherfucking malfunction is. Sollux and Feferi are both drunk. Equius... well, he is just being his adorable little chivalrous self. And Vriska...

Vriska. You have no idea what her deal is.

You stray from the pulsating dance floor crowd for the third time that night. You're gasping for air and sweat is starting to smudge the eyeliner that Kanaya had used on you in place of your usual facepaint. You have no idea how long you've been running around out there. You figure maybe it's time you take a break again. Maybe you can scope out the refreshment tables. You could really go for a cup of punch right about now-

Speaking of punch, you notice a certain someone in a red-violet corset gown standing by a bowl of it. And if you're still seeing straight, you'd say she actually looks kind of upset.

You stand slumped against the wall for a minute, catching your breath before you wander over to the table. She's still standing there, just staring at the floor, looking pretty expressionless for someone with her personality. She's acting as if you're not even there. You aren't sure where to start. You've never had a real one-on-one talk with her before. You're pretty sure no one has.

"Um... hey, spidersis."

She glances sideways at you, her head still slumped forward. "Hey, Gamzee."

"So... what's up?"

"Not much."

"Enjoying the motherfucking promfest so far?"

"I guess."

You open your mouth to try and speak again, but you're pretty sure you'll just get another two-word mumble response. You shut it again, turn the same way Vriska's facing and lean back against the table. You're not sure where this is going, but the chances of the answer being "nowhere, fast" are looking increasingly likely.

It's almost a full two minutes before you hear a quiet, "Hey, Gamzee?" above the music.

You glance over at her, hoping she'll finally tell you what she's been up to all night. "Yeah?"

She faintly smiles at the ground. "You can keep a secret, right?"

"Yeah, totally," you say casually. "Secrets for Serket. That I can def motherfucking manage to do."

"Okay." She smiles slyly again before looking up at you. "You tried the punch yet?"

"Yeah. I've been slamming that shit like motherfucking Faygo. All the time I spend running around this party is burning me the fuck out. Gotta stay alive somehow, right?" You tilt your head, confused. "Why do you ask? Something motherfucking special about it?"

Vriska's already barely-there smile vanishes. "Oh. Should have figured this stuff wouldn't affect you."

"What?" You drop the half-full cup that you were filling into the punch bowl. What stuff? Was there something in the punch? There had to be. She couldn't be talking about anything else. Then what the hell have you been- Oh shit. Around a million options just ran through your head. Needless to say, none of them are in any way pleasant. You think you might throw up.

"You've been out on the dance floor all night, Gamz," she says. "You can't tell me that you haven't seen all the shit going on out there. You've been right in the middle of the show."

"The... what?" As you stare blankly at her, your thoughts fuzzy with confusion, Vriska's mischievous grin reappears. And suddenly things start making sense. "Sis, you didn't-"

"Oh, yes I fucking did."

Well. Then if that's all she did to the punch, you just wasted a perfectly good cup of dissolved sugar with a twist of super-potent intoxicating mystery substance.

"That is... That's just motherfucking genius. Cruel, I gotta say, but still genius." You grab yourself a new cup, forgetting the one currently floating in the middle of the bowl. "You want some, sis?" you ask her, holding out the your new cup of concoction.

"No, thanks," Vriska deadpans, shrugging. "I was really planning to just watch."

"Oh." You look away and take a sip of punch. Mother fuck, this stuff is good.

"It's just-"

You whirl around to face her again. "What?" "

What do you want, Gamzee?"

"I just thought you said something."

She sighs, her gaze dropping back to the floor. "It wasn't important."

"But it was something."

"Something stupid."

"I'll be the motherfucking judge of that."

She glares at you, cobalt fire in her eyes. You simply cross your arms over your chest, lean back on the table and wait for her to talk again. Eventually she sighs and drops her gaze to the floor. You smile. You're finally getting your answer.

"It's just... It seems like everyone at this party is having fun but me."

"Oh." Your smile fades and you take another pensive sip of spiked punch. You've never heard her admit something like this before. Well, not since- You shake the thought out of your head. You usually try to forget the episode you had a month earlier. She wasn't supposed to know about your whole self-harming issue. No one was. But still, she was there, and you'd just needed someone so badly...

"See? I told you it was stupid."

Vriska's voice brings you back to reality. You look up from the floor and see that she's still standing there next to you with her shoulders slumped and eyes downcast. "So what you're motherfucking saying," you murmur, still trying to work out a remedy for her, "is that you just wanted to watch everybody getting fucked up, but now feel motherfucking left out?"

"Yeah, sounds about right," she mumbles in response.

"Okay," you say. "I think I can see the motherfucking problem here."

"And what's that?" "You said that you were only planning on watching everyone motherfucking lose their shit while you were safe on the motherfucking sidelines. But it's pretty motherfucking clear that this is not cutting it. I'm pretty motherfucking sure that you're all bummed the fuck out because you're doing nothing but watch, and that's just motherfucking boring."

She finally picks her head up and looks at you. "So?"

"So you need to get in on this shit!" you say, grinning. "Drink some punch. Get out on the floor. Dance. Talk to people. Do something. Because just sitting around waiting for shit to happen is... well, that just sounds kinda motherfucking dreary."

She shrugs, tapping her fingertips on the tabletop. "I think I'll be fine. I'll get over it."

"'Kay then, sis." You refill your punch cup and punch her playfully in the shoulder, flashing another smile. "But if you ever find yourself reconsidering, you know where to find me." Without another word, you turn away and head back to the dance floor. You're sure she'll be okay. She's Vriska motherfucking Serket. She'll be back to normal before you know it.

* * *

You are Vriska Serket.

You grab a cup of punch and choke it down. Maybe he's right.

* * *

Nepeta seems to have been having the time of her life. At least she was until you, Equius Zahhak, showed up.

You don't even know what you just walked into. It looks like Nepeta had been putting on some sort of performance. There are boys and even a few girls closing her in on every side, cheering, reaching for her and chanting her name. And the way she's dancing is...is...

Well, the only thing separating this from a striptease is that she hasn't started tearing her clothes off yet.

You start to feel sick. This is what your moirail has been doing? Pushing past a few frenzied bystanders, you reach through the crowd, take her by the arm and tug her out of the crowd. She stumbles drunkenly after you.

Drunkenly.

Something is definitely not right here.

"Nepeta," you stammer, trying to control your revulsion. "What in the BLAZES do you think you're doing?"

She sways a little and hangs onto your arm, letting you hold her upright.

"Hi Equius," she giggles. "Did mew want to join the fun, purrrrrrrhaps?"

"What? No! No I did not!" You feel your hand tightening on her arm. You quickly let go before you break something. "Now I demand you tell me what I just witnessed out there, because if I don't get an explanation, I swear, Nepeta, I will burn this hotel to the ground."

"Awwww, you don't gotta start burning stuff," she slurs, still smiling. "I was just messing around a little." She giggles again and holds up something shiny. It takes you less than a second to realize what it is. "Also, have mew tried this punch stuff? It's pawsitively fantastic. Vriskers told me herself."

"Nepeta!" you gasp. You snatch the empty cup away from her. The plastic splinters in your fingers. "I thought I told you-"

She giggles distantly and bumps her head against your shoulder. You look down at her and she smiles, her eyes foggy. Forget the lecturing. She is clearly too out of it to care.

You sigh and try again. "You know how many times I've told you not to drink from the punch bowl. I'm fairly sure that I've warned you even more times not to do anything Vriska tells you. You know how she is. So I want you to try and rein things in for the rest of the night. No more of this. Understand?"

She stares blankly up at you for a second, as if your words are slow to process. She eventually gives you a slow, mechanical nod. "Also, no more punch," you add, glancing at the crumpled plastic in your hand. "You've had enough."

Nepeta's face takes on a childish pout and she emits a protesting whine. But she still nods. Her smile takes over her face again, and she gives you a quick hug.

"Good. Now stay out of trouble," you say, ruffling her hair before letting her go and walking back to the tables.

* * *

Your moirail, Equius Zahhak, has once again turned his back on you, Nepeta Leijon.

You immediately scamper back to the punch bowl, grab yourself a new cup and slam it. Damn, this stuff is good.

* * *

You are Vriska Serket, and you have had FUCK you don't even know how many cups of punch.

You are, as of now, just as determined to have fun tonight as you are to watch everyone fall apart while you laugh at them from the shadows. Thanks to Gamzee's suggestion, you are now out on the dance floor and watching the show from center stage instead of the sidelines. And you have to admit, the view from here is much more entertaining.

That's when you spot your should-have-been date.

Tavros Nitram is dancing arm in arm with the very reason you ended up here in the first place, Gamzee Makara. They're all over each other, which is ironic, considering they broke up even longer ago than Eridan and Feferi. You guess not even almost-murder can keep those two apart. It's cute. So fucking squeal-inducingly, sugar-sweetly, sickeningly cute.

So you get a stupid idea.

You sneak through the crowd and creep forward until you're right beside the adorable little PBJ lovefest. In one fell swoop, you push past two fellow human students, step between them, grab Tavros by the tie and kiss him on the lips.

Hard.

He squeals and jerks backward. You let him go and laugh. It's adorable, how he freaks out. Gamzee stares at you, his face somewhere between "what the hell just happened" and "Vriska why the flying fuck did you do that." Before anyone can take even a second to judge you, you've already withdrawn and disappeared into the crowd, laughing harder with every step you take. That felt good.

Eventually you find the wall of the ballroom. You settle in among the glow-in-the-dark wall stickers and brooding lonely kids. Your laughing eventually starts to wear off. You had no idea being one of your own victims could be this much fun. Of course, you won't be fucking up left and right like they all will. You're the mastermind. Vriska Serket does not fuck up.

As you stand in the flashing strobelights, liquor still seeping into your nervous system, a thought hits you. You stare out into the crowd. Yeah, there are plenty of shenanigans going on out there. A decent amount that any ordinary prankster should be satisfied with.

But you, Vriska Serket, are no ordinary prankster.

It's been fun so far. But you know things aren't going to be getting much better. Spiking the punch must not have been quite enough. The action out there could use a little push. This party needs more havoc.

That's when you see Nepeta. She must be taking another of her little breaks. Her head is on the table, her eyes half-closed and a drunken smile on her face. She looks exhausted. But you think you can manage to put a little more life in those sleepy green eyes of hers. You grab two cups of punch and start making your way over to her. The last you saw him, Eridan was looking pretty lonely...

* * *

You are John Egbert.

You're out on the dance floor again. Terezi has managed to track you down, and this time she's brought Jade with her. Dave still has yet to make an appearance. It wasn't worrying you before. You were honestly more pissed at him than anything. But then after Terezi came crying to you about how Dave had seemingly vanished into thin air...

You never get to finish your thought. An angry shout in the crowd cuts it short.

"KEEP WALKING, FUCKASS!"

Karkat comes storming through the crowd. And being dragged along behind him, kicking and screaming, is the ever-elusive Dave Strider.

You can't exactly say you're happy to see him.

You watch, dumbstruck, as Karkat shoves, kicks, and pulls Dave by his jacket sleeves through the crowd towards you. "Jegus, that took fucking forever. I finally found you assholes," he growls. He grabs Dave and shoves him forward.

"Explain."

You can already tell what's coming. You aren't sure whether you want to see what happens next or not. But you stick around anyway. Whatever is coming for Dave, he deserves it.

Terezi scoffs and folds her arms over her chest, her blind red eyes firing daggers at Dave. She is clearly pissed. You already know why. Jade, meanwhile, is in a state of total panic. She's stuck in place, her gaze darting from one person to the next. Her eyes are wide open, her mouth twitching as if she wants to speak but can't remember what words are.

"W-what's going on?" she stutters, her voice a bewildered squeak.

Before anyone can say a word, Dave reaches out towards her and takes her hand. "Jade," he says softly. "I finally found you. I know what this looks like, and I know you're confused, but I can explain. I swear it. I just need you to come with me. We need to talk, and it's... it's a little loud in here-"

"What? No!" Jade glares at your friend and grinds her feet into the floor, refusing to move. "Dave, what the heck is this? Where have you been all night?"

"I-I know, I know, Jade, and I'll tell you everything, just-"

"I am not going anywhere, Dave. I want you to tell me the truth. Here and now. In front of everyone, because they deserve to know too. Where. Have. You. Been?"

"J-Jade, please, I- you- I don't even-" He keeps on stuttering. You have never seen him like this. Dave is always cool. Always confident. Never the stammering, hesitant mess you're looking at that he seems to have magically turned into.

Your gaze shifts to Jade. She's getting more impatient by the second. Her ear twitches, waiting to hear a response from her boyfriend. "Dave?"

Finally he takes a breath and starts talking. "I- I've been alone."

Jade snarls, her ears flattening against her head. "Really."

"Yes! Yes, I have," Dave shouts, no longer holding Jade's hand. She's holding his now. "The whole time. I've just been... thinking. There's a lot that's been going on with me lately, and, Jade... I... I haven't been completely honest with you."

Jade's ears prick back up and her expression softens. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh for FUCK'S sake!"

Terezi groans and grabs both Dave and Jade by the wrist, tearing their hands apart. "You. Strider. Since you won't get to the fucking point already, I'll do it for you. And you." She turns toward Jade. "Don't you get it? Dave is cheating on you!" She pauses, then lets go of their wrists. "With me."

Your heart stops. This is it. You knew it was coming. Now here it is. You're not sure if you can watch. But you have to. You can't help it.

Jade is staring wide-eyed at Dave. Her mouth is open again, but she doesn't make a sound. Dave reaches out toward her, as if he expects her to take his hand again. "Do you want to go somewhere to talk now?" he says softly.

Jade never answers. Instead she steps forward and slaps Dave across the face.

Dave reels backwards, his shades once again thrown from his face. Jade only watches as he staggers in place, trying to find his footing again. He looks up at her, his bright red eyes revealed for all the world to see. "Jade?"

Jade doesn't speak. Her face is still frozen in shock, but you can see tears starting to well up in the corners of her eyes. Her breathing starts to hitch, and she turns away and runs off into the crowd.

"Jade!" Dave shouts after her. He picks up his shades from the floor before some oblivious prom-goer smashes them. He slides them back into place before chasing after his girlfriend and disappearing into the crowd. "Jade, wait! Please!"

Terezi shrugs, glances back at you and Karkat, and disappears into the crowd to follow them. You're pretty sure she just wants to see karma rip Dave's heart out.

You are once again left standing alone, this time with Karkat, the both of you wondering what the hell just happened.


	7. Part 6

**Hello! Sorry for the giant gap between updates there. I'd warned everyone before that I would slow down with updating this one. Looks like I had a good reason, too. I was super busy last week and had literally no time to get anything done. Anywho, I know I confused a lot of people with my last chapter. Just a reminder, that's sort of the idea. I did my best to make this story as random and confusing as I possibly could. I'm not giving any clear hints to exactly which ships this is going to end with. So, to all you people who are complaining that I'm not clear enough about exactly where this story is going, sorry, it's probably a horrible writing technique, but that was exactly what I had in mind. I want to apologize to everyone who was expecting an actual, straightforward story. That was nothing like what I had in mind for our little grey friends and their human accomplices.**

**Okay, enough apologies. Let's get reading.**

* * *

Part 5

You are Eridan Ampora, and you are currently absorbed in a passionate liplock with your worst enemy's ex, Aradia Megido.

It isn't even two seconds before you feel a forceful tug on the back of your shirt. You hang on and try to ignore it. Just a little longer, just to let it really sink in for him...

An invisible force takes hold of your entire body. Your eyes fly open. You hear Feferi squealing in the background. Suddenly you are ripped violently away from Aradia, sent flying backwards and end up sprawled on the floor, surrounded by a ring of gawking bystanders. You groan in pain and curl up, knocked windless by the fall. For just a second you see a layer of light surrounding your body. Your skin is gleaming in the red and blue glow. A single thought goes through your head. _Those are not strobe lights._

Shit. You really should have thought of this before you went through with the whole kiss-Sol's-ex-and-rub-it-in-his-face scheme.

Gog, you're stupid when you're drunk.

You catch your breath and stagger to your feet just in time to see Sollux striding through the crowd towards you. His eyes are glowing, the glare of red and blue perfectly highlighting the pure livid rage on his face.

Well. You are beyond fucked now.

"What. The hell. Are you doing?" he hisses at you, forcing the words out at you one at a time as if they were bullets. The glow in his eyes flares. You feel the heat of violet blood rushing to your cheeks. At the same time your fingertips feel as if they've turned to ice. You're scared shitless. At least you are until you see Fef standing a few feet away, watching. Then your own anger returns with a flaming vengeance.

"Oh, fancy that," you snarl back, your hands balling up into fists. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's got a few fuckin' personal problems."

Sollux shoots a hiss in your direction. The bright flames of his powers light up at his fingertips. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"So you can play around with my ex all you want, but I'm apparently off-limits from yours?!" you shriek. You don't know who you're trying to intimidate. You already know you're screwed. Of all the times you could have chosen not to have a wand on hand...

Oh well. Too late now. Sollux snarls, brightly colored flames flickering from behind his anaglyph glasses. Before he can use his powers and humiliate you for a second time that night, you take a flying leap and tackle him to the floor.

Everything becomes a total blur. One second you're on top of Sollux, striking angrily at his face, then next you've gone flying again before getting dragged back and clocked hard in the side of the head. The both of you are throwing each other back and forth, punching, clawing, kicking and screaming insults at each other. The crowd surrounds you and shouting fills your ears, but you hardly even notice. All you can focus on is beating as much shit out of Sollux as you possibly can. You're pretty sure he's got the same idea.

You somehow twist him into a stranglehold. "Lowblooded fuckin' matesprit stealer!"

He shocks your nerves and twists your arms backwards. "Take that, you sick fuck!"

You writhe out of his grip and rake your nails across his face. "Backstabbin' freak!"

He reels back before lunging forward and delivering a swift blow to your gut. Your next retort gets stifled into a breathless, strangled cry as he uses his powers on you again. You crash to the floor, unable to fight back. Then Sollux is on top of you, his sharp, bony knees digging into your sides. He grabs you viciously by the wrists and forces you onto your back. You stare helplessly up into his rage-stricken face. A drop of honey-colored blood falls from his gushing nose and splatters onto your face. You wonder when the hell you managed to do that.

"Well?" he snarls, his fingernails digging into the flesh of your arms and making you wince. "What's wrong? Got nothing to say now?"

"You fucking imbecile!" you choke out, struggling to breathe under his weight. "W-why can't you see that I-"

"Stop it! Both of you, right now!"

A bubble of energy forces its way between you and Sollux. Suddenly he's being pulled away from you. You can breathe again. Your head is reeling. You were going to say something. Something important. Why can't you see... Why can't you see... Shit. You can't remember what it was.

You stagger to your feet and look around. Who was it that started screaming all of a sudden? You hear the same voice speaking softly to someone on the other side of the clearing in the crowd. Still gasping, you turn and look toward the sound. It's Feferi.

She's standing next to Sollux. Holding a napkin over his nose, which is still dripping uncontrollably like a broken blood faucet. Whispering softly to him and calming him down while Aradia stands by, her hands still held up from forcing you and Sollux to break up your fight.

Your heart snaps.

You can't believe this. You thought that you and her were, at the very least, still moirails. And now... Now that you need her more than ever, Feferi had once again abandoned you for... for...

Forget it. You can't even bring yourself to say his name anymore.

You can't take it. You feel tears starting to burn in the corners of your eyes like drops of acid. Your exhausted gasps start to turn into strangled sobs. You turn away and disappear into the crowd before anyone can see you cry.

You somehow manage to hold in your feelings until you've quarantined yourself to the shadows by the refreshment tables. It's another three cups of punch before you can calm down again. You've had it. Prom night was a fucking stupid idea.

You trudge away from the tables and start making your way towards the ballroom door. You don't care if you have to drag one of the Alphas over here when they'll only have to come back again in a little while. You're leaving, and-

And is that Nepeta leaning against the doorframe?

And why is she looking at you?

* * *

Your name is Gamzee Makara, and you are currently sitting by the wall with your es-matesprit, Tavros Nitram, who you are pretty sure is having a panic attack.

He's curled up with his knees smashed against his chest, a position you've seen him in all too often. As far as you know, he hasn't had any of the punch, but he still somehow looks intoxicated, not to mention shaken, confused, and motherfucking terrified.

Neither of you can figure out why the fuck Vriska Serket kissed him.

You're still pretty motherfucking happy that you could stay friends with him after you broke means you can help a bro out when shit like this happens.

From what you can tell, you're pretty sure Vriska is hell-bent on turning prom night upside-down. You can't say that you're actually surprised. She does seem to enjoy causing chaos and inflicting shit on people. You aren't sure if the fact that she is now motherfucking inebriated is going to make things better or worse.

"I- I can't believe she did that!" Tavros squeals from under your arm for the twenty-third time. Yes, you were counting.

"Neither can I," you answer him for the sixteenth time. You were counting those, too.

"I just don't get it!" he says, digging his fingers into his knees. "Seriously, Gamzee. I don't even... Why? Just... WHY?!"

"Don't motherfucking ask me," you mumble, giving his shoulders a reassuring squeeze. "I never have any motherfucking clue what's going on in her sadistic little thinkpan."

"It doesn't make any sense. She broke up with me. I don't see any reason why she would want me back, either. She's just so... so..." He squeaks in frustration and bashes his face against his knees.

"Vriska is a motherfucking mystery, bro. And some are just never meant to be solved."

Tavros sighs and leans on your shoulder. "I'm just so-"

You put a finger to his lips and squish him against your shoulder. He shuts up and you reposition him so he's sitting in your lap, leaning back against you. You softly pet his face and shush him, doing your best to calm him down. Eventually his short, fevered breathing slows down, along with his panicked, racing heart.

"Better?" you say softly.

He glances back at you with a smile. "Yeah," he says. He leans back on your shoulder, one of his horns pressed up under your chin. You can't help thinking that if he were sitting with anyone other than you, this would be pretty romantic. But then, you cuddle Karkat all the time. Not that he likes it when you do, but whatever. Moirallegiance.

Tavros squirms in your lap again. "Oh, gog."

Something in his voice sounds off. His horn is pressing into your neck more than it was before. He must have turned to look at something. You readjust to try and find whatever it is that he's seeing. Your gaze falls on the refreshment tables. And guess who just happens to be standing there right that very second.

"Well, would you look who's back."

Vriska heart-breaker-prom-wrecker Serket is once again standing by at the punch bowl, watching everyone rip themselves to pieces while she sits back and laughs. Someone else is walking over. Someone huge. It takes you a second to pick out an arrow-shaped horn sticking up from the shadow's head.

"Hey. Isn't that Equius?" you ask distantly.

"I think it is," Tavros answers. "What's he doing talking to Vriska?"

You watch as the blue-blooded troll cautiously approaches the spiderbitch. He seems intimidated, despite the fact that he's over six inches taller than her and could probably snap her in half if he needed to. Then again, so could you, and she still scares you.

He draws closer to her and starts talking. She grins, her razor-sharp fangs glistening in the flashing strobe light. There's no way in hell you'd be able to hear what they're saying. The best you can do is guess. She responds with what seems like a coy eyelash flutter and puts her hand on his shoulder. She seems to be teasing him, since you've learned from personal experience that the spiderbitch doesn't flirt. Either that or she's trying to keep his attention on her and away from something else. You can't imagine why. Or maybe you just don't want to.

"What is she doing?" Tavros wonders out loud.

"You're asking me?" you murmur into the back of his head.

She stands there, fake-flirting for another few minutes. Ponyboy seems pretty undaunted. You know for a fact that he's never one to fall for Vriska's tactics. She's keeping him pretty distracted all the same. The sultry look on Vriska's face disappears. She says something, and Equius reacts pretty badly. His face falls and you're pretty sure his eyes are wide behind those broken shades of his. Vriska takes his hand and leads him out onto the dance floor. He follows mechanically, like one of those robots he always has hanging around. Seems like there's something out there that she wants him to see.

* * *

You, Eridan Ampora, aren't quite sure what is going on here.

It appears that Nepeta is blocking the door, completely wasted, and leaning up against the doorframe with a flirtatious grin plastered onto her pretty little pixie-face. And you are fairly sure that it's aimed at you.

You stand, dumbstruck, unable to do anything but watch as she straightens up and saunters drunkenly towards you. She leans in close and tugs on your scarf with her delicate little hands. "Hellllllooooo, Ampurra," she giggles.

"Um..." you mumble, not sure whether she is flirting or just drunk. The punch has obviously had an entirely different effect on her than it did on you. "Hey, N-Nepeta."

"Awwww, something wrong?" she coos, an unmistakable purr in her voice. Yes, she is definitely flirting with you. She keeps giggling like an idiot and playing with your clothes.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" you say, trying to hide the fact that you just got your heart shattered like a cheap Christmas ornament.

"Well, I was wonderring where mew thought mew were going. So much more time left of the purrrrom and all." She presses her hands into your chest.

"Nepeta, what are you-"

"Don't ask questions, Ampurra," she purrs. Pressure builds behind her hands and she starts to push you backwards. "Just go with it."

"Is this your way of asking me to dance?" you say with a smile.

Nepeta giggles again and keeps walking. You let her drive you back out to the dance floor. The asshole trio is nowhere in sight. You guess it makes sense. You did give Sollux a pretty harsh beating. Not afraid to admit it, either.

"Sssssssooooooo..." Nepeta purrs. She slows down and you both come to a stop in the middle of the dance floor. She slides her hands up to your shoulders, flashing you a foggy-eyed smile. "You having fun yet?"

"Depends on your definition of fun," you say with a half-hearted laugh. She starts to sway, and your hands stick magnetically to her waist to hold her steady.

"Mrrrrr," she hums in a singsong voice, "Mew will be soon. Of that I can assurrrrre you." She grins and keeps dancing. You find your hands sliding closer together on her small, slender back. You're not doing anything. Nepeta's hands are tightening on the back of your neck. You quickly realize that it's because she's pressing herself closer to you.

You don't do a single thing to stop her.

Soon her hands have slid away from the back of your neck and started to wander elsewhere. The fingers of one hand are tangled in your hair, the meticulous styling already ruined, the other slipping slowly over your back. She's pressed herself up against you, her body smashed invitingly against yours. You feel the faint vibrations of a purr starting up in the back of her throat as her hands wander further. One slides over your shoulder, slips down your arm, and winds up passionately gripping the front of your vest. Her other hand digs further into your hair, inching slowly toward your horns. You have no idea what the hell she's trying to accomplish. You thought she'd done enough slutty things for one night. Her hand slides lower, slips gently over your stomach and- oh my, Nepeta, you dirty little kitten.

You're so depressingly drunk and lonely that you don't even mind.

Her hands keep wandering. Nepeta presses herself harder against you, her face only inches from yours. Her eyes are sleepy and clouded, a liquored-up smile still gracing her little face. She's so close to you, you can feel her heart starting to speed up through the front of her dress. She keeps on flirting, giggling, swaying to the music and touching you in ways that would cause Equius to ground her for life. And you're... _enjoying_ it.

Nepeta grabs you by the collar of your shirt and rises up on tiptoe. She uses you as leverage to pull herself up next to your ear. "Come on, Ampurrra," she whispers. "Dance with me."

You don't hesitate to accompany her. She takes your hand in hers and prances out further on the dance floor. You follow, a hot flutter starting up in your chest. This has got to be the best thing that's happened to you all night... which, honestly, isn't saying much.

The blasting music is even louder here, You can practically feel the vibrations of bass shaking the floor and sending tremors through your entire body. Nepeta must be feeling it too. She's certainly dancing like she is.

She has her back to you now, once again pressed as close to you as she can possibly get. Her hips are rocking back and forth to the rhythm of the music, her shoulders rolling back against your chest. Your hands wind their way around her waist again, then slide down a little further. You slow down, not sure if she'd let you feel her up like this. As if she can read your mind, Nepeta giggles and leans back against you, pressing her hips into yours, taking your hands and running them all over the front of her body. The two of you are moving together like this is some kind of elaborate drunken mating dance. And it is_ fantastic._

You're so spellbound that you almost don't feel the subtle shift of fabric under your fingers. You open your eyes just in time to see Nepeta spinning around in your arms and turning to face you. Her arms wrap around your neck. You feel a forceful tug on the back of your neck. Nepeta's eyes close. She goes on tiptoe again, pulls your head forward, and smashes her lips hard against yours.

You don't bother trying to resist. You don't even act surprised. You tighten your grip on Nepeta as her hands start clawing passionately at your back. Your head angles down. She tilts hers back in response. It doesn't take long for you to slip into full-on snog mode. You're running your hands all over Nepeta's tiny fairy frame, breathing fast, your mouth moving hotly against hers. Her mouth opens and your tongues collide, winding up in a dance even nastier and more fun than the one the rest of your bodies were doing less than a minute ago. You drag her close to you, kissing more and more deeply, not sure what the hell you're doing but not regretting any of it either...

Just in time for Equius to show up and witness the whole drunken mess.

* * *

You are Karkat Vantas.

You haven't seen Jade, Dave or Terezi in quite some time. You're still stuck on the dance floor with John, just like you have been for the past half hour. Despite the fact that you deliberately refuse to give a shit, the fact that your friends keep disappearing is starting to worry you.

"Hey, Karkat?"

You look over at John. He's still got his hands stuffed in his pockets, and that weird look that is some awkward combination of bitterness and concern is on his face again.

"What?" you snarl. Or at least say in the closest thing to a snarl that you can manage under the circumstances.

"Don't you think they've been gone for... for a really long time?"

"It's been almost half an hour, fucknuts. There's hardly any prom left. What do you think?"

John looks down at the floor, his oversized front teeth biting absently at his lip. "Aren't you a little worried about them?" he says. You're not sure if the question is rhetorical or not.

You heave a sigh. "Yes. As much as it pains me to admit, I am a little concerned about the fact that two-faced slut, unfaithful toolbox and dog-ears keep running off and leaving us hanging. It's..." You can't help thinking of the look on Jade's face the second before she disappeared. You lose control of your train of thought and it derails mid-sentence.

"We should probably look for them," John says, raising his head to look at you.

You tilt your head, eyes narrowed. "Aren't you getting kind of sick of running around looking for people yet?"

"Well, yeah, I guess, but..." he says, chewing his lip again. "They just ran off, and pretty much everyone was upset, and I..." He closes his eyes and sighs. "I know this sounds stupid, but I'm worried they won't come back."

"Okay, okay, you've convinced me," you snap before he can pull any more heartstrings on you. "We'll look for them. It's not like there's anything better to do at this suckfest."

John gives you a weak, half-hearted smile. "Thanks." He looks around in the surrounding crowd as if he doesn't know where to start, which he probably doesn't. "So, how do we-"

"We'll start by splitting up," you snip, cutting him off. Before he can say anything else stupid, you turn and walk away.

"Meet me back here if you find anyone, okay?" he shouts after you. You wave your hand indifferently and keep walking. It won't matter. You're pretty sure this is just going to be another pointless wild honkbird chase anyway.

A quick sweep of the ballroom reveals nothing. None of the members of the disappearing dipshit brigade have stayed in the area, which you have to admit was probably a good idea on their part. Not on yours, though. All that means is that you have to work harder.

You push open one of the double doors and step out into the hallway. While your ears adjust to the sudden quiet, you start walking. There's no time to waste. Not that there's any point in trying to be quick about this. It's not like you have anything better to do. You start wandering all over the first floor. At this rate, those three could be anywhere in the hotel. You don't think any of them would have left the building. Well, maybe Strider is outside making out in the rain with your ex again. But judging by the look on her face when you last saw her, that doesn't seem too likely.

You spend a solid fifteen minutes walking in circles through the hallways, lobby, kitchen, empty second ballroom, fitness center, vending machine corner with the elevators, and all three of the bathrooms on the first floor. Everywhere you look has a varying degree of noise seeping through from the ballroom where your prom is still running. It's been too fucking long. Face it. You're never going to find them.

You wander a little further. This is pointless. Why are you even-

Wait a second. Did it just get quieter?

You come to a total standstill in the middle of an empty hallway. Your legs are on fire. They're so tired out that they come dangerously close to giving out and letting you hit the floor. You wonder exactly how much distance you've covered wandering around the first floor of the hotel.

You take a better look at your surroundings. The walls on either side are lined with locked mahogany doors. You must have somehow wandered into the room corridors. Damn, it is really quiet in here. The eardrum-shattering music from prom is almost completely drowned out here. Hotel walls must be pretty high-caliber. You wonder if this is where Strider had wanted to take Jade to talk things over.

That's when you hear the crying.

* * *

You, Equius Zahhak, can not believe what Vriska Serket just told you.

More importantly, you can't believe it was actually true.

"Nepeta!"

Your moirail's fluffy blue tail flicks at the sound of her name. She opens her eyes and loosens her hold on... on ERIDAN? He whines in protest as Nepeta pulls away from him and turns toward you. Her eyes are clouded and half-closed. She flashes you a dizzy smile. Oh no. Has she been-

"Heeeeyyyy Equius," she purrs. "Are mew enjoying the show?"

"No!" you shout. "No, I am not! Nepeta, what in the name of Calliope Scratch do you think you are doing? Have you lost your MIND?!"

Nepeta is even more distant than when you last saw her. She doesn't even react, only giggles like a drunken schoolgirl- which she IS, as far as you're concerned- and plays with Eridan's scarf. "Awww, mew don't have to be so dismal. I was just having a little fun."

"This is your idea of fun?" you hiss. "Look at yourself, Nepeta! I can't turn my back on you for five minutes without you making a complete fool of yourself. That's all you're doing. You've- you've- AGH!" You throw your hands in the air. Words can not possibly express the whirlwind of thoughts storming through your head.

Nepeta doesn't even flinch.

"Oh, Equius," she mews, still clinging to Eridan. "It's not so bad. And besides..." She glares pointedly at you. "I might have had a little more self control if you didn't treat me like a freakin' wriggler all the time."

You freeze in place as if her death stare has turned you to stone. "If I- what?"

"I wanted one night, Equius," she continues, untangling from Eridan and venturing a step closer to you. "One freaking night. I wanted to have fun for once in my life without you always behind my back and telling me what to do. But I couldn't even have that, could I?"

Your mouth drops open in shock. "Nepeta, what are you going on about?"

She doesn't say a word to answer you, only stares with her bare arms crossed over the too-revealing front of her too-short dress. You reach out and take her firmly by the wrist. "Come on, we're leaving," you say bluntly. "You've done enough for one night."

Then Nepeta does something that you never could have even imagined that she would do. Not to you. Your little moirail tugs her tiny wrist out of your hand and plants her ballet-slippered feet on the floor.

"No."

As if you hadn't had enough shock to your system already. "What?"

She takes a step back and reaches out for Eridan, who offers her an arm. "I said no."

Your feel your hands twitch and tighten into fists. "Nepeta, I said we're leaving."

Nepeta stares silently at you for a moment. Then she bursts out laughing. Your mouth drops open for the second time that night. Nothing like this has ever happened to you before. Ever.

Nepeta just keeps laughing. "Yeah," she snorts. "YOU said!"

"N- Nepeta..."

"Equius..." she whines back at you, her voice a mocking squeal. She laughs again. "You know, I don't know what's worse. The fact that you always pushed me around, or that I actually thought it was for a reason. You aren't my gogdamn lusus, Equius. And you should know purrfectly well that I'm not a little girl anymore! You don't have to prrotect me all the time! If this is anyone's fault, it's YOURS!"

You open your mouth to respond, but no matter how you try, no sound will come out. You don't know what to say. While you struggle to speak, Nepeta keeps talking.

"Look, Equius," she says, her gaze fixed on you again. "I used to think you were the best meowrail that a troll could have. But I guess I was wrong. If you can't accept the fact that I'm going to grow up sooner or later, then I'm sorry, we can't be furriends!"

Nepeta finally falls silent. She's glaring at you, vodka-fueled bitterness burning in her eyes. It's not true. It can't possibly be true. But Nepeta's still there, hate written all over every feature of her pretty little face. You can't deny it, no matter how hard you try.

You shut your mouth, stare at the floor, turn and leave without another word.

You, Equius Zahhak, have failed as a moirail.

* * *

You are Nepeta Leijon, and you can not believe what you just said.

You were drunk. Hey, you still are drunk. You were upset. All you wanted was to have fun. That's all. You weren't hurting anyone. Except yourself, maybe, but he didn't have to...

Forget it. There's no hope in trying to fix things now. You saw the look on Equius's face. It's over. Your moirail is gone now. You'd be lucky if he ever speaks to you again.

Suddenly everything is starting to spin out of control. The music is too loud. There are too many people. It's too hot. You can't breathe. All of a sudden you don't feel so good.

You feel Eridan pawing at your arm. "Nep?" he calls in the distance. "Nep, are you okay?"

No. No you are not.

The room is starting to spin. You feel your stomach starting to twist itself into a knot. You can't take any more of this. You shake Eridan off, push your way out of the crowd and run to the bathroom.

* * *

You, Vriska Serket, have been watching all of this.

You suddenly regret everything. You don't know why. Ordinarily, you'd think this was funny. You know your friends too well to feel bad for them. Maybe it's the vodka in the punch. Or maybe the music is screwing with your head. But for some reason, you think you've gone too far this time.

You just wanted to mess with everyone, not tear them all to pieces.

Suddenly you don't feel so hot either.

* * *

**Whoops I accidentally everything.**


	8. Part 7

**Hi! I just want to say thanks for all the awesome reviews. It's nice to know people actually like my work, or even that they bother reading it at all. No, I'm still not telling what ships this is going to end in. And the organized chaos is going to remain functioning at about the same rate that it's been throughout the rest of the story. So keep your socks on. You might need them.**

**I don't even know what that's supposed to mean.**

* * *

Part 6

You, Aradia Megido, have got to make up your mind.

There's just a little less than half an hour left of prom night. Then it'll be over. That's how long you have. Gog, the deadline seemed so much further away when you set it.

You'd told yourself nearly a month ago that you would make your choice tonight. Equius or Sollux. You were sure your heart would lead you in the right direction by now. But still...

You've already heard about what just happened on the dance floor. Everyone has. You're pretty sure that a scene like that hasn't happened at any Avalon High prom in the entire history of the school. Equius has suffered enough heartache for one night. He doesn't deserve to get any more from you than he already has. He's been flushed for you for years. You found out about it ages ago, and you know for a fact that his feelings haven't changed.

But then there's Sollux. Yes, the two of you broke up after the game ended. And yes, you didn't have any plans to get back together with him. But what you had back then, it was... It was unforgettable. There's still something between you.

At least you think so.

You had promised yourself that you would make your decision by tonight. By the time you leave prom, you will know who it is that you really want.

Yeah, right.

So far, all you've managed to do was confuse yourself even more. You've spent most of the night with Sollux. Well, at least he wasn't your date. That was Feferi. But still. You'd spent most of your night at his side, even when the other biggest scene at any Avalon High prom night in the history of the school occurred. You're sure that Sollux would have destroyed Eridan if Feferi hadn't come to you for help. Feferi had been at your side all night, too. You had thought that her and Sollux would end up matesprits. That would have meant he had moved on without you, and you would finally be able to make your decision. But now...

Now you're dancing with him. And Feferi is nowhere to be seen.

If Sollux wasn't drunk enough before, he is certainly wasted now. Despite your efforts, he couldn't be kept away from the punch. Now he's standing right in front of you, the traces of a smile gracing his serene face as he sways to the ear-shattering music with you in his arms. You're even more confused now than you were before you showed up at prom. This night is clearly going nowhere.

"Hey... AA..."

Sollux's drunken whisper catches your attention. You look up at him, gazing into his half-closed anaglyph eyes. "Yeah?"

"So... So prom's... prom's almost over, ya know?"

You nod listlessly, trying to mask the chaos going on inside your head. "Yeah, it is."

"So... I was wondering... what are you doing? You know... later?" He grins, his eyes opening just a little more to look at you properly.

"Um," you murmur, not sure how to respond. You can't stop thinking about the decision that you still have yet to make. "I- I'm not sure. Nothing, I think."

Sollux's grin brightens. "Hey, AA?"

"Hm?"

"Since... Since you have nothing to do... do you maybe wanna... I don't know... Do you wanna get a room here? I heard a lot of people are doing that, and... and it sounded fun... if we got one... and FF came, too, maybe... and we could...we could totally..."

You don't bother listening to the rest of Sollux's words. You already know where this conversation is going anyway. You're in no mood for that sort of thing. At least not until you've made up your mind. Besides, something else has captured your attention. Something that is far more important than the classic scenario of losing your virginity in a half-drunken threesome on prom night.

Equius has suddenly appeared.

Sollux keeps talking, but you aren't listening anymore. You watch as the blueblood emerges from the confines of the dance floor crowd, slipping through the darkened sliver of space between the raver swarm and the wall. You don't even have to imagine what he must be feeling. The look on his face spells it all out for you. You've only ever seen it once before, and you had hoped you would never see it again. He's slouched over, his hands jammed in his pockets, staring at the ground as if the strobe lights were hurting his eyes. He walks mechanically across the room as if everyone in it has disappeared. You follow his course with your gaze. He's headed for the door.

You know you shouldn't be surprised, yet for some reason you still are.

He's leaving.

You tear your gaze away from Equius and lock eyes with Sollux again. He's still holding you by the waist and swaying to the music as if you hadn't just completely ignored his hotel-room-threesome tangent. Your breath catches in your throat. You don't want to say it. Your heart is still frayed at the edges. But you have to. You have to make up your mind sometime. And if your choice wasn't clear enough before...

"Sollux?"

"Hmm?" he mumbles, his hands gently tracing the lines of black lace on your back.

"I-" Your voice catches before you can finish. You have to force the words out. "I have to tell you something."

Before you can speak any further, Sollux's arms tighten around your waist. You gasp in surprise as he pulls you in closer, his face just inches from yours. But he doesn't make a move. He keeps a straight face, not trying to go any further, just holding you close and nothing more. "What is it?"

Your hands drift to his arms and run delicately over the shot silk of his shirt. Your gaze drops and you feel the ends of your nerves starting to numb. You have to tell him. You don't want to, but you have to. You take a breath and look back up at Sollux. Before you can react, he leans in and closes the barely-there gap between his lips and yours.

You don't even take a second to think of what this looks like to an innocent bystander.

And it sure looks a lot like red romance.

* * *

You, Equius Zahhak, have just had your heart broken. Again.

You must have coincidentally chosen the perfect moment to turn around in the doorway to look back on the massive disaster of a school event that you're so dejectedly walking out of. Aradia and Sollux, for some strange, unknown reason, had to choose that exact second to do it. And now they're kissing. The second you turned around, they started kissing.

It's the perfect icing to top the huge life-ruining cake that this stupid prom has become.

It's started raining outside. You knew that it would eventually. But you don't care. It doesn't matter. You just can't take any more of this.

You turn away and walk out the door.

* * *

You, Vriska Serket, are pretty sure that you have ruined everything.

You don't know if it's the spiked punch in your system or this whole "human" thing finally getting to your head, but you're actually feeling some intense guilt right about now. All of your friends are falling apart right before your eyes. You aren't even sure what is your fault and what isn't.

Dammit. You can't believe you ever thought this would be a good idea.

You thought that screwing around with everyone at prom would be fun. Something like this used to be. But now... Now you just feel bad.

All you had wanted was a bit of chaos at prom. Just a little something to mix things up. You didn't want this. You never wanted this.

Unable to watch any more, you slip outside.

* * *

You are Gamzee Makara.

You just saw Vriska Serket leaving through a side exit in the shadows of the semi-dark ballroom. You think back to earlier, when she revealed her secret plans for the night. After what happened with Eridan, Sollux, Nepeta, ponyboy and everyone else you were pretty sure she'd gotten exactly what she had wanted. She's successfully made Avalon High history. That was what she was trying to do, right?

So why is she walking out?

The thought of the prom's recent events make you think of Nepeta again. That was one hell of a motherfucking scene she caused. It was only a few minutes ago, and already everyone's talking about it. You don't think that anyone will ever be able to look at her the same way again. Equius was right when he called her out. She was being kind of a whore. But still. You saw her face after her moirail- or the person who used to be her moirail- walked away. And the way she ran off afterwards...

You hope she's okay.

"Hey, Gamzee?"

You look sideways at your ex-matesprit. Tavros has been at your side for most of the night. Now he's staring blankly at the half-hidden door that Vriska just slammed shut, his hands shoved into his pockets and his cinnamon-sugar eyes filled with concern. You're pretty sure his thoughts are in the same place as yours.

"Yeah?" you answer softly.

"Do you think she's okay?" he asks, his eyebrows knitting in worry.

You turn to face him. "Who?"

"I don't know," he says, looking up at you. "Anyone. Vriska. Nepeta. Anyone else who's gotten caught up in all this prom stuff."

"Um, kind of a broad motherfucking definition, Tav," you say with a shrug. "I honestly don't motherfucking know if anyone we know hasn't had to deal with some kind of bullshit tonight."

"Yeah, you're right." He sighs and looks back down at the floor. "It's- It's just that-" He squeezes his eyes shut and turns to face you again. "You saw what happened out there!"

"Yeah. Everyone motherfucking did."

"I just... I just wonder where Nepeta's gone, and... And if she's okay."

"Weird," you murmur, glancing back at the side exit. "I was just thinking the same motherfucking thing." You know that Vriska is standing just outside, whether she's having a breakdown or not still yet to be determined. And Nepeta is all by her motherfucking self, holed up gog-knows-where and more than likely falling to pieces with no moirail to come and rescue her.

"We should do something," you think out loud.

Tavros's eyes widen. "Really? Like what? Prom is almost over, Gamzee. There's no way we can fix this with just twen-"

"I know, bro," you say. "I know. We can't fix the entire motherfucking prom. It is WAY too motherfucking late for that. But maybe we could try and undo some of this motherfucking damage. Catching my drift?"

Tavros stares at you, blinks a few times and nods. "I- I think so." He gives you a shy, understanding smile. "Crisis control?"

You nod and grin back at him. "You go after Nepeta. I'll take care of spidersis. 'Kay?"

Tavros nods his head one more time before turning away and scampering off into the crowd. You wait until he disappears before you start making your way towards the side door. You think it's finally time you pay her back for that incident last month. She deserves it. And you're guessing she needs someone now more than ever.

That someone might as well be you.

* * *

You are Karkat Vantas, and you have no idea what you've just walked into.

You're standing in the middle of a quiet, deserted hallway. Well, quiet except for the strange, stifled sound that's filling practically the entire hallway. Someone, somewhere close by is crying. At least you're pretty sure that's what the noise is.

There's only one way to find out.

You freeze in place and try to keep quiet. The cries are so stifled that even letting yourself breathe would drown them out. You end up standing there like an idiot for at least a minute before you finally manage to pinpoint the source of the noise. It's just a little further down the hallway. It's not too far to walk, even though your legs feel as if they're about to go paraplegic on you.

You catch your breath, which you had been holding in order to hear the near-fucking-silent crying, and force yourself to walk the rest of the way down the hallway. The cries grow louder with every step you take. You're close enough now that you're starting to think that you recognize them. They sound like...

They sound like a girl.

You finally reach the end of the hallway and turn the corner, your legs feeling ready to collapse. There's even more hallway in front of you. You swear bitterly under your breath and take another agonizing step when a quiet sob breaks the silence. That's weird. It's so clear, it's almost as if it's right in next to you. You do a visual sweep of the hallway, trying to figure out exactly where that fucking crying is coming from. Then you notice something- no, someone- curled up against the wall in a ball of black organza sprinkled with pinpoints of silver and an infinite array of other colors, like some kind of fabric nebula. A pair of slender, peachy arms are wrapped around the fabric fluff, and a pointed pair of furry white ears stick out from the smudge of black. Your heart stops.

It's Jade.

She's sitting on the carpet, her knees pulled up tightly against her chest with her face buried in the endless layers of her dress. Her shoulders are shaking, and her fingers are white from digging furiously into the layers of her skirt. Realization hits you like a slap to the face. That crying noise was coming from her.

You take a hesitant step closer. "There you are," you say. Jade's head snaps upright. Her wide, tearstained eyes lock onto you. You take a breath and keep talking, trying to ignore the fluttering sensation in your chest. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

Jade sniffs and lifts a hand to swipe at the streams of makeup staining her face. "We?" she whimpers. "You and who else?"

You stare blankly at her for a second. You have no idea how to answer that. You don't even know if there is an answer for that. "Um... Are you-"

You cut yourself off before you say something stupid. OF COURSE she's not fucking okay, look at her. You breathe in and try again. "What's wrong?"

Jade doesn't answer. She just sniffles again and stares up at you with those vivid green eyes of hers, fresh tears rolling over her cheeks and smearing her makeup even more. Your heart starts having a seizure in your ribcage. You can't believe it. You've been waiting for this for years. You're finally been caught alone with the love of your pitiful gogdamn life. Only now that everything you have ever hoped for has happened, it's all wrong. Jade's just had her still-beating heart ripped out and thrown on the floor. Even you aren't enough of a heartless prick to flirt with her at a time like this. There's only one thing you can do.

You crouch down on the floor next to her. "What's wrong?" you ask again, a little more gently this time.

Jade flicks her ears and turns away to stare at the wall. Another tear lengthens the stripe of makeup on her face. "I broke up with Dave," she whispers.

"You- you what?" Okay, you have to admit, it was literally a disaster waiting to happen.

"Dave and me. We broke up," she says in a choked voice, turning to face you again. "I- I can't believe how stupid I've been. All this time, I... I should have seen it! Dave, he- he's been this way for months. I- I should have noticed. The way he'd been ignoring me, how he would always act around Terezi, and... and he'd been gone for almost the entire first two hours of prom. He had been running from me and messing around behind my back for two god damned fucking HOURS! I- I just feel so... so..."

Jade's voice breaks mid-sentence. Her words trail off and turn into a sob. Tears are streaming over her face again. Before you can say even a single word in response, she's buried her face in her knees again, crying even harder than before.

And she won't. Fucking. Stop.

You want to rip your overexcited heart out of your chest and hand it to her. What are you even supposed to say to her? Sorry your heart got broken, Jade. Here, have mine? Yeah. That would work out fucking perfectly. You turn away and stare vacantly at the wall. It's completely hopeless. There's nothing you can say. Nothing you can do to-

Hold on. There is something.

But wait a second. Humans don't find that soothing. It just creeps them out.

Fuck it. It's not like you have any better ideas.

You look back over your shoulder at Jade. She's still crying, her face still hidden. Your hands are shaking. You raise one anyway and rest it gently on Jade's shoulder. Her ears perk up and she raises her head a little. Okay, you're doing good so far. Just a little more- Your hand moves up and runs softly over her silky raven hair. She's still sobbing, but at least she's removed her face from her knees. Before she can bury it again, you carefully slip your other hand under her chin and cup it around the side of her face.

She looks at you and blinks in confusion. "K-Karkat, what are you-"

"Just shut up and go with it, okay?" you say, surprisingly not snapping the words in her face. You stroke your thumb delicately over her cheek, smearing away some of her bleeding makeup. She sniffles a few times and stares blankly at you. Okay, she's still crying, but least the sobbing has stopped.

"Shhhhhhhh," you whisper, running your fingers gently over the soft, smooth skin of Jade's face. Your hands are covered in tears and makeup, but you don't care. You continue to gently stroke her cheeks and shush her. Tears are still spilling out of Jade's eyes and she still sniffles every few seconds, but she's started to calm down. Maybe shooshpapping her wasn't as horrible of an idea as you thought.

Your heart is starting to flip out again. Gog, you almost forgot that this strategy actually involved touching Jade's face. You feel like such a fucking moron. But you can't help it. Before you can stop yourself, you sit down on the floor and gather Jade into your arms.

Jade doesn't react. She only stays quiet, sniffing quietly every now and again, and lets you hold her close and continue to pet her face. You hug her tightly against you, bury your face in her hair and pet the soft white fur of her ears, comforting her the best that you can. You can practically feel your pulse at your fingertips. Your entire circulatory system is going insane. You almost don't even notice that Jade's crying has faded out completely.

You feel a slight tug at your arms. Jade is trying to pull back. You quickly loosen your hold on her, ignoring the bitchy little voice in your head screaming in protest. Jade pulls away, closes her eyes and wipes the last traces of tears and bleeding eyeliner from her face. Her eyes open and flicker back up to look at you. Your heart just about stops. Without even bothering to think first, you lean forward. Jade freezes. Your eyes close.

Then your lips meet.

* * *

**AND FIRST PLACE OTP GOES TO...**


	9. Part 8

**The ships are sailing in to port. Prepare yourselves. That's all I can really say.**

* * *

You, Tavros Nitram, have no idea what you're doing.

Gamzee has sent you to go find Nepeta. And that's exactly what you've done. You probably should have mentioned to him that you might have had some feelings for her that, no offense to him, may or may not be slightly redder than normal. Or maybe it's better that you didn't. You can't really be sure. But it doesn't matter. Too late to turn back now.

Okay, it might seem a little nonsensical. You needed support after you broke up with Gamzee, and, well... you knew what your options were. Gamzee and you had used to be best friends and he would have understood, but he was the reason why you needed some emotional support, so that was out of the question. Vriska would probably have just laughed at you. Maybe even thought you deserved exactly what you got. Terezi... frankly, Terezi just didn't give a damn. Eridan wasn't even a viable option. And that left Nepeta. Nepeta, the quadrant expert and insanely adorable empathetic kitty-cat princess who had a knack for this sort of thing. She ended up being the only choice you had. So you turned to her, and she was there for you, and... Everything afterwards had happened so fast, you weren't even sure what all of it meant.

And now...

Now you're standing outside the secondary first floor girls' bathroom, listening to a crying voice inside that can only be Nepeta.

She was there when you needed her. Now she's the one who needs you. You're standing right here. It would be so easy just to walk in and fix everything. You know it would. But for some reason you can't even bring yourself to knock.

Why the hell is confidence so hard to find?

* * *

You, Aradia Megido, have no idea why the hell your ex-boyfriend is kissing you.

Your senses finally make their way past the shock. You force your hands between his body and yours and push him away. His lips get torn violently from yours. You can still taste the fake-fruity taste of vodka punch that he'd been overdosing on all night. He lets out a small protesting whine and tries to pull you back, leaning his head lazily toward yours.

"Sollux, stop it!" you hiss, pushing him away again.

Sollux stares at you, blinks a few times and shakes his head. His sleepy eyes widen the tiniest bit and his face seems to light up with realization. "W-what is it?" he stutters softly.

"Sollux, I..." you say. Your heart is pounding in your ears. You knew you would have to do this eventually. You just hadn't realized how difficult it would be. "I don't want this."

"You... what?" Sollux mumbles, running a hand through his disheveled hair.

"I don't want to be with you," you continue, just as unsteadily. "Not- Not like this."

The look on Sollux's face shuts you up. He stares at you, his foggy eyes glowing dimly in the semi-darkness. "AA..." he whimpers.

"Sollux, I- I used to feel red for you. I loved you. I really did, but... I don't anymore." You drop your gaze to the floor and clutch the lace of your skirt. "Things have changed, Sollux. I- I think I have someone else in mind."

Suddenly you feel a hand resting gently on your shoulder. You look back up to see Sollux still standing across from you, arm outstretched towards you. "S-Soll-"

Before you can even finish saying his name, Sollux tugs you forward. You crash into his chest and his arm tightens behind your back, pulling you into a tight hug. He balances his chin on the top of your head. "It's... okay, AA."

His arm loosens and you pull back, your eyes wide. He keeps one hand on your arm. You feel him give it an affectionate squeeze. Sollux is... smiling? You pretty much just broke up with him, and he's actually smiling for you?

"What?"

"It's okay. I get it. I totally get it, AA."

Wow. He must be even more drunk than you thought.

"Sollux, I- I don't know what to say..."

"Shhhh," Sollux whispers, raising a hand and pressing a finger to your lips. You don't even bother trying to figure out what's going through his head. You've been completely lost at this point.

Sollux removes his hand from your face and smiles. "Go," he says softly.

You raise an eyebrow. "Sollux, what the-"

"Go!" he shouts, spinning you around and giving you a gentle push. "Go get him!"

You have no idea what's going on, but you don't have enough time to question it. You should probably leave before Sollux changes his mind. You turn back for just a second to give him a smile and whisper a heartfelt "thank you" before scampering off into the crowd to find Equius. Last you saw him, you thought he was headed for the door. You certainly hope he wasn't. He's the only one out of all your friends who has their own car. If he's already started driving home...

Screw it. There's no way he's still here. You're running out of time.

There's only one place Equius could have possibly gone.

You kick your heels off and run outside.

* * *

You are Sollux Captor.

You watch calmly as Aradia Megido walks away from you. And you let her. Probably against whatever better judgement your liquor-logged brain has left, you let her go. It's about time you faced the facts. She's moved on.

Maybe it's time that you did, too.

Besides, you know of a certain hipster that you should probably make up to before the end of the night. A certain fishy hipster who has been in a completely obvious state of self-denial for a while now, no matter how secretive he thought he was being.

Eridan Ampora is sort of an open book when it comes to romance.

* * *

You, Nepeta Leijon, were wrong. So horribly, horribly wrong.

You're curled up in a ball on the tiles in the corner of one of the girls' bathrooms. There are dark green rivers of makeup running down your face. Your entire body is going into convulsions from how hard you're sobbing.

You were wrong. You were so horribly, disgustingly, unbelievably wrong about tonight.

You can't believe that you had ever thought that tonight would be the best night of your entire young life. You can't believe you could have been so stupid. Instead of having the time of your life, you ended up letting yourself get peer pressured, gotten completely wasted, made a slutty fool of yourself, singlehandedly ruined your reputation, thrown up twice and lost your best friend, who you're pretty sure is gone for good.

Some fucking prom this has turned out to be.

You're crying so hard that you almost don't even notice the tentative knock at the door.

You choke down a few shuddering sobs and raise your head to look at the polished piece of fake cherrywood. The hesitant, shaky knocking sounds again. There's someone outside. You wonder if they're here for you. Maybe they just want to know who's been sobbing in the bathroom for the past half an hour.

The knocking sounds one more time. You take a deep breath, swipe uselessly at the streams of eyeshadow running down your face and force your aching body to stand up. You may as well tell whoever it is to go away, at the very least. You don't think you could bring yourself to talk to anyone right now. You grab the silver handle and pull the door open. Standing outside, all on his own is...

...is Tavros Nitram.

Funny. He has to be the last person you'd expected to show up.

* * *

**Sorry this is so short! I didn't have much time to edit. Another update is coming soon. I purromise. :33**


	10. Part 9

**I'm back within less of a hiatus than before!**

**I hope you appreciate this, you ungrateful peasants.**

**I want to thank everyone for the reviews. Once again, it's good to know that people out there actually bothered to read my fic! I did my best and I know the writing style and absurd amount of subplots was pissing people off before, but thanks for understanding. The entire point of this was to be confusing as fuck. And, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I DO NOT expect people to agree with my otps. I am fully aware of how crackish and rare they are. So if you don't agree with some of them, go ahead and call this a crack fic. I don't mind. :)**

**Storytime.**

* * *

You are John Egbert, and you still can't find Dave Strider.

You don't know what you're doing wrong. You've been searching the first floor of the hotel for more than half an hour. Prom will be over soon. You must have gone over every square inch of the first floor of the Rosewood Hilton at least thirty-six times. And yet for some reason you still can't find him.

Your legs have literally gone numb. You can't even calculate the number of miles you must have racked up wandering around the hotel trying to find Dave. You feel like you're about to collapse. It's about time you take a break from this wild goose chase. Finding Dave Strider can wait. If you don't take a rest soon, you just may become the next pre-game Tavros Nitram.

You stop for a second to figure out exactly where you are. The music from the ballroom is so loud you can still hear it in the distance. You must not be too far from the party. You're in one of the hallways branching off from the lobby. There should be a stairwell somewhere around here. Hold on, there it is. You straighten up to make a break for the stairs...

And stop dead in your tracks.

Sitting alone on the stairs, leaning lifelessly against the wall, is Dave Strider.

You open your mouth to speak, but you seem to have momentarily forgotten how words work. You have never seen Dave like this in your entire life. Not in the entire five years you've been friends, not at any point in the game, never. You always thought Dave was so cool, so calm and chill and always in control, but... But now he just looks crushed. He's sprawled out on the stairs, but not in the chill, relaxed way he usually is. It looks as if someone threw him there, and he just never bothered to get back up. The top half of his body is slumped over his legs, his face hidden in his hands and his shoulders shaking every now and again.

He's trying to hide it, but you are sure that he's crying.

"D-Dave?"

Dave's head snaps upright at the sound of you stammering his name. You take a cautious step forward. He shudders, and you stop in place, not sure whether he wants you here or not. His face is completely unreadable behind his shades, but you can still see the faint traces of tears staining his pale skin. He stares blankly at you for a second before taking a shaky breath. "John?" he says, his voice wavering. "How did...how did you find me?"

"It wasn't easy, that's for damn sure," you say, walking towards the stairs. Dave follows you with his indecipherable gaze. "I've been running all over the hotel for the past I don't even know how long. I couldn't find you anywhere." You take the last few cautious steps and settle down on the stairs next to Dave. "What happened?" you ask softly.

For a second Dave only stares silently at you, never offering so much as a whisper to answer you. Then he reaches up and takes his glasses gently by the frame and pulls them away from his face. Behind the protective black barrier, tears are pooling in his bright red eyes. It looks as though they have been for a while.

"Jade broke up with me," he says flatly. "So did Terezi."

"Oh... god, Dave," you say softly. "I'm so sorry." You reach out towards him and put your arms around his shoulders. If there has ever been a time he needed a tender bro embrace, it's definitely now. Your arms tighten as you pull Dave closer, and he-

He jams his hands in between the two of you and pushes you away.

You quickly take your hands back. What the hell? He's never rejected your bro hugs before. Something's wrong. You may not have any idea exactly what's going through his head, but there's definitely something he's not telling you.

"What is it, Dave?"

Dave never answers, only draws back and pulls his knees towards his chest. He shifts a few more inches away from you. Not sure how to react, you decide to try and change the subject. "So, um... what happened with Jade? And... Terezi, too, I guess?"

"Look, dude, I- I don't even know what I was thinking," Dave murmurs, still refusing to meet your gaze. "Jade's... Jade's been my girlfriend for pretty much forever. I- I was going out with her because it was what Karkat had shipped. You remember that, back when all the game business started? Anyway, it just felt... It just felt right. We had been friends for years, and she was always so sweet and loving, and... and I just couldn't see it any other way. But then... Then there was Terezi. After I met her... in real life, I mean... she just went cray for me. So freaking cray that she left Karkat. She broke up with her matesprit for me, John. What the hell was I supposed to do? I couldn't deny her that, could I?" He's finally raised his head and turned toward you. His hands have curled up into fists on his knees, turning white from the pressure of his fingers on his palms.

"But... but to tell you the truth, John..." He takes another shaky breath. A stray tear rolls aimlessly down his cheek. "After a while, I- I realized I didn't feel anything. For either of them. And now, I- I just feel so fucking stupid. I've been a such dick to everyone this whole time and I... I... just hate myself now." He looks away again and swipes angrily at the tearstains on his face.

"So what was the point?" you ask, your voice quiet. Your gaze is still locked on Dave, even if he won't return the favor. You will let him know that you're here for him, whether he likes it or not. "Why were you just leading them on? Why didn't you just tell them that you didn't actually like either of them?"

Dave finally looks up. He's given up on trying to keep a straight face. His eyes are practically bleeding sadness and the tear deluge has started all over again. He opens his mouth to speak, but all that comes out is a suffocated sob. You don't even bother trying to talk to him anymore. You just reach out towards him and pull him in for a hug. He doesn't push you away this time. Instead he buries his face in the front of your jacket and cries silently into the sky-blue satin. You lean him against your shoulder and hold him upright. "Why, Dave?" you ask again, your voice barely above a whisper.

You feel a hand slide up over your chest and push you gently away. Dave stares up at you with his bloodshot red eyes. "Because this," he whispers. He leans in towards you, brushing his lips softly against yours.

Your heart stops. Suddenly you can't breathe. You stare blankly forward as Dave pulls back.

"That's why."

* * *

You, Eridan Ampora, are completely, utterly and entirely alone. Again.

You are sitting on the floor, wedged in the small gap of space between the dance floor and the wall. For the second time that night, you're fighting back tears. Everything is horrible. Your life is horrible. This prom is horrible. You just want to curl up in your lonely little corner of ballroom and die. You tried to have fun. Shit, you even almost did. But now... Now you realize that it was all for nothing. You no longer see the point in trying. You don't even want to get shitfaced anymore. You just want to leave.

You can't believe how stupid you've been. You should have known that prom night would end like this. Everything always ends like this for you. No matter what.

And Sollux. Sollux is still out there, probably enjoying the last few moments of prom, and more than likely laughing with your ex about what a cod-damned glubbing idiot you are. You bury your face in your hands. You didn't even get to...

Wait a second. You've spotted something through your fingers. You tear your hands away from your face and look up. Someone is walking through the crowd... towards you.

You can't believe it. Does this mean that someone actually still cares about you? Wait, no. That's stupid. Of course that's not why someone has bothered to seek you out in this massive human swarm. It can't be. You squint into the semi-darkness and try to make out who it is.

The stranger keeps walking towards you. Your eyes widen. You'd recognize that twiggy silhouette anywhere. If that weren't enough, the double horns are a dead giveaway.

It's Sollux Captor.

What the hell does he want?

He pushes past a few of the people in the crowd and stops directly in front of you. You suddenly find yourself staring up at him through the blurry violet tears welling up in your eyes. He stares straight back, motionless. Neither of you say anything for what seems like an eternity.

You finally manage to spit out a single word. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?" Sollux shoots back. He seems oddly calm.

"Why are you here?" you continue, blinking to get rid of the tears in your eyes. "I thought you were off in la-la land with Fef."

"Why would you think that?" Sollux raises an eyebrow, then drops it again. "I haven't seen her around for a while. I was going to ask AA, but..." he shrugs, never finishing his sentence.

"Oh." You drop your gaze and stare at his mismatched shoes for a while. "So..." you murmur, your pulse rushing in your ears. "Why are you here?"

"Well, I- Honestly, ED, I..." Sollux stutters. You look back up. He's looking off to the side, his hands in his pockets. Something's up. You just know it.

"Well? Spit it out, Sol. I'm not gonna wait all night."

"Eridan, I- Look, I think we can both agree that I've been kind of a jerk. Both of us have. And... There are some things I wanted to clear up."

You tilt your head to the side and fold your legs in front of you. "I'm listenin'."

"Okay," Sollux says with a heavy sigh. "First of all, I am not involved with Feferi. In fact, I hardly ever was. I just went out with her for a while. I thought I had red feelings for her, but it turned out that I didn't. So whatever that was, it didn't mean anything. Second of all, I was never trying to taunt you by dancing with her or anything. We were just having fun. It's prom. That's sort of what you're supposed to do. She wasn't even my date for tonight."

"Wait, wait," you cut in. Sollux falls silent. "So... you're sayin' that Fef _wasn't_ your date?"

"No," Sollux says, shaking his head. "She was going with Aradia. But then, she sort of just disappeared into the void, so I guess that then AA was my date after that... but then... FUCK. I'm getting off track here." Sollux sighs and looks back down at you.

"So why are you telling me all of this now?" you ask, your voice soft.

Sollux lets out another sigh and crosses his arms. "Eridan," he says, his eyes locked on yours.

"Yes?"

"You disgust me," he says bluntly. "You are selfish, conceited, possessive, a tool, a user, a heartbreaker, and I know exactly how you feel about me even though you won't even admit it to yourself."

"Yeah, I know, but... Wait, what?" you blurt out. It's all you have time to say before Sollux kneels down in front of you, grabs you by the scarf and pulls. Hard. You fly forward, and your mouth collides with his.

Oh. My. Gog.

This can't be happening. There is no way that this is really happening. This has to be a dream. You got drunk and passed out. Sollux knocked you out while you were fighting. This can't be real. There is no way...

But it is. You can feel Sollux's lips moving softly against yours. His breath is warm on your cheek. Your heart is beating so fast, you think you might faint right in front of him. He was right. You were fooling yourself. You can't believe it. Were you really so upset over Fef that you didn't even let yourself see it?

You, Eridan Ampora, are red for Sollux Captor.

After a solid thirty seconds, Sollux finally lets go of your scarf and pulls away. Your eyes had drifted closed while he was kissing you. They fly open, even wider than before. You can hear your heart beating above the earth-shaking rhythm of the music. You stare up at Sollux in disbelief. There are tears in his eyes.

"There are twenty minutes left of this party, and my date just walked out on me," Sollux says, his voice wavering. "Eridan Ampora, will you be my date for the rest of the night?"

You blush. A hot, fluttery feeling fills your chest.

"Yes."

* * *

You, Vriska Serket, are currently wishing you were dead.

The last thing you remember seeing was Equius walking out the door, looking like he wanted to drive his car off of a bridge on the way home. Everything after that had been nothing but one big, sickening blur. You weren't even entirely sure what was going on. Nepeta and Equius were screwed up because of you. So was Eridan. Something had happened to Jade. John and Terezi, too. You hadn't even heard the whole story on those three. But somehow they must have been your fault too. Everything was.

This entire night was ruined for everyone because of you.

You slam your hands against the side exit door. It swings open and you stumble outside. The air is damp and cold. Rain is falling down in sheets, soaking everything around you except for the tiny dry patch of space underneath an overhang above the side door. That's where your legs give out and you collapse onto the pavement.

Your stomach twists up inside you. Shit. You're so dizzy. Everything is spinning. Your fingers scrape the concrete as your hands ball up into fists. You choke a few times and try to push yourself upright. You have just enough time to struggle to your knees before falling forward and coughing up everything in your stomach.

You stay on your hands and knees for a while, just until the puking stops. Once it's over, you sit back on your heels, wipe the traces of vodka-punch and stomach fluid off your face and stick your hands out in the rain to wash it away. You draw back against the wall and wrap your arms tightly around your legs. A shiver runs down your spine. That was awful.

You can't believe what a complete disaster tonight has become. You ruined everything. Not just for your friends, but for yourself as well.

You had no idea that you could be so unbelievably stupid.

You cough a few times and curl up in the shelter of the doorway. Your throat is on fire. You think you'll be wanting to stay away from Roxy's liquor cabinet for a long time. Your eyes are burning, too. You wonder why. It's probably the strain from all the puke you just forced up. At least that's what you hope it is.

You feel your ragged throat starting to tighten up. No. That's not what it is at all.

The sting in your eyes intensifies even more. Tears start to pool on your eyelashes as your slow, steady breathing begins to shake. You don't even try to stop it. You simply burst into tears. It's not like it matters. Not as long as nobody sees.

You never notice when the door opens. At least not until you feel a hand resting on your shoulder.

"Hey. Knew I'd find you out here, sis," a familiar voice says.

Oh my gog.

Of all the people who could have come to your rescue, it had to be him.

* * *

**Another ship has arrived at port.** **Please don't throw things at me.**


End file.
